When Two Become One
by Toni The Mink
Summary: Something odd is happening to both Sonic and Blaze's worlds... They appear to be coming together. They must solve the mystery of the Chaos and Sol Emeralds before "the greatest evil" takes control of both worlds. SonBlaze
1. The Prophesy

INTRODUCTION:

The setting of this story will be a bit complex... The main plot takes place after the events of "Sonic Rush Adventure", even though it starts off in flashbacks.

Despite it taking place after the game, the universe is one that I sort of made up on my own (to get somewhat of an idea of what I made, take a look at my old fanfic "Sonic Advance 2" original title, eh? :P) It sort of takes a little bit of everything from every Sonic universe, specifically from "Sonic Underground", but don't get me wrong this is NOT a SU fanfic. Sonic is not a chubby, OOC chili-dog-monger with a magic guitar that shoots lasers. He's basically the same Sonic from the SEGA games. The only thing I took from SU was his family (who play minor parts here) and his royal roots, plus the location "Mobodoon" which I made Sonic's kingdom which Queen Aleena rules.

Fans of Sally and/or the Sonic/Sally pairing may not appriciate what I'll have in here. There's no bashing, but there's not exactly "pleasing" either. You have been warned.

--

"Two Worlds"

Written by: Toni F

Sonic the Hedgehog and all related indica (c) SEGA

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PROLOGUE:

--

"Takeshi, settle down!" Queen Aleena ordered her five-year old son, who was zipping from one side of her office to the other.

"It's Sonic, Mom!" the young blue hedgehog protested, jumping from the bookshelf to a decorated armor statue. "That's what Unca' Chuck calls me. He says I can run as fast as the speed o' sound, lika' _sonic-boom!_"

"Regardless, you are a hedgehog, not a monkey," Aleena scolded, "Now get down from there before you hurt yourself.

'Sonic' stood up on his feet at the tip of the armor, getting ready to dive off, but upon standing, the armor wavered back and forth. He swung his arms to maintain balance, but it did no good as the armor toppled forward, with the little hedgehog falling down with it. Aleena wasted no time jumping up from her desk and quickly coming over to the boy's side. "Are you okay, dear?"

Sonic rubbed his head. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Now didn't I warn you that you could hurt yourself?"

"Sorry, Mom... I'll clean it up." Sonic got to his feet and picked up the armor's chest plate as Aleena picked up the statue, righting it back up. Sonic only stared at the plate, pulling it closer as he tried to read an inscription inside. "The powers split, north and south... Two worlds, separate lives... In the greatest per... _peril_... the powers yu... yuuuuniiii-..."

"Unite," Aleena corrected.

"Yuuniiite... And two become one..." Sonic looked up at his mother. "What's all that mean?"

Aleena took the chest plate from her son and tried to connect it back to the armor. "It's an ancient prophesy from an old, old story, long before your time. Long before _my_ time even."

The word "story" was more than enough to rile the little hedgehog. "Tell me, Mom!" he cried, jumping up and down like a Mexican bean, "Tell me! Tell me!"

Aleena chuckled. "Oh Takeshi, it's not like it's a bedtime story or anything. You might not understand."

"Awww, come on, please??" Sonic clasped his tiny hands in a pleading manner.

Aleena sighed and smiled, then scooped him up into her arms. "Oh all right," she said, "Only because you love hearing stories." She placed him on the desk chair and sat on the edge of her desk, looking down to her son as she spoke.

* * *

_Many many centuries ago, there stood a powerful kingdom. This kingdom held the highest power, and was the mightiest on the planet, perhaps even in the entire universe. An evil warlord wanted to use this power to his own selfish advantages, and struck a civil war in the kingdom. Before it could collapse under his rule, the great power of the kingdom divided itself into two. Instead of being divided from one, two were united to defeat the warlord. In order to preserve the power, the kingdoms remained separated to protect themselves from any of threats, including the warlord's spirit. Until then, the universe waits until these two worlds were called upon to unite into one once again._

* * *

"I just love that story, Mother," mewed the princess kitten as she snuggled into her bed.

Her mother smiled and stroked her forehead. "I know you do, Blaze," she spoke, "Though for the life of me, I'll never understand what fascinates you about such a fable."

"Cuz it gives me hope," Blaze happily responded, "No matta' what's happening, I know our kingdom will be safe. It gives everyone hope that we'll get stronger and beat up all the bad guys, an' be a happy planet!"

The queen cat gave a light kiss to her five-year-old daughter's cheek. "If it brightens your spirit, then I will never stop telling you the story."

* * *

**EIGHT YEARS LATER...**

* * *

___'The powers split, north and south_

___Two worlds, separate lives_

___In the greatest peril, the powers unite_

___And two become one...'_

The saying replayed itself into Blaze's mind as the teen princess looked over her land from the highest tower of Sol Castle. This was her land, her responsibility, her duty... to do it alone.

She sat up from the ledge she was leaning against, scoffing. "What a stupid story..."


	2. A SemiHappy Reunion

**TWO YEARS LATER**

Throughout South Island ran a blue blur, the hero of Mobius, Prince Takeshi of Mobodoon, better known to millions worldwide as Sonic the Hedgehog. He had spent all morning running laps around his home island, which is what he normally did whenever he had something heavy on his mind. In this case, it was a certain cat from another world.

Blaze...

It was only little more than a year ago when they had first met. She had fallen from her dimension after Nega, her own version of Dr. Robotnik, or "Eggman" as he called him, had stolen her Sol Emeralds and accidentally whisked them into Sonic's world. They didn't exactly start off on the right foot at first, her being so stubborn from accepting help that she even attacked him, but she finally warmed up and accepted his help, with the help of his little pal Cream of course, who had become good friends with Blaze. But in the end, they worked together to stopped both Eggman and Eggman-Nega from taking over both worlds.

Then she had to leave, their dimensions separating back to normal. He remembered floating in front of her as Super Sonic and Burning Blaze. Getting a good look at her for the first time, he saw just how beautiful she was, especially doused in the emerald's power. As they were saying their thanks and goodbyes, she had floated towards him, offering her hand in peace. They shook... and leaned closer as if to kiss... but were suddenly torn apart as the dimensions separated finally and each were thrown into their respected worlds.

After that, he figured that was it. Blaze had said it herself. "It's better this way..." Their worlds would be back to normal and no dimensions would fall apart. It would have never lasted anyway, seeing as they belonged in different worlds. It was better to try and forget her, and move on...

But then a year later, after foiling yet another plot by Eggman and retrieving all the Chaos Emeralds, he and Tails were flying home in the Tornado over the ocean when they were caught in a storm and sucked through a cyclone. They woke up on an unfamiliar beach, "rescued" by a young raccoon named Marine. Having been on many world tours on foot, Sonic thought he knew every part of Mobius, yet he never even heard of this "Southern Island" before in his life. Little did he know that they were now in _Blaze's_ world, and he met up with the lovely princess of Sol once again. Blaze once said that their chance meetings may had something to do with the Chaos and Sol Emeralds. That they were brought together for a reason... Sonic didn't have an answer for that, but instead offered his farewells and a handshake, to which Blaze accepted... and used it to pull him in and give a peck on his cheek, leaving Sonic speechless and wondering, "Who knows when I'll be back?"

That was only a few months ago, and he hasn't stopped thinking about Blaze since. The first time was one thing, but being able to see her again brought out hope. Would he be able to see her yet again? Perhaps there was a way for them to see each other whenever they wanted! But the question was how? And was it safe? Their dimensions almost collapsed because of their first meeting. But then the second time, Tails explained getting back home was easy because of the emeralds' stability. Maybe if he gathered all the Chaos Emeralds together, there'd lie an answer...

Bah, he was thinking too much into it. It was bringing on a headache.

Sonic poured on some speed, hoping to clear his mind of everything... and it suddenly hit him.

An earthquake.

"What the--?!" Sonic cried out as he was bounced violently into the air and landing sprawled on his back over and over.

After several minutes, the earthquake finally began to die down, and Sonic was able to get up on his feet. He rubbed his aching back. "That was odd," he muttered to himself. "Better head back to the kingdom, make sure everyone's all right."

He sped off, across the island towards Mobodoon, running past the small villages... that somehow appeared to have grown in size since the last hour. One thing that particularly stood out was a large restaurant with a sign that read _Salmon Shoppe_. Sonic scratched his head. "... Was that ALWAYS there?"

* * *

In a far away place, hidden in a classified location, Dr. Robotnik, or "Eggman" as he was known to those he hated, studied his radars and monitors that reported to him damage reports and the strength of the earthquakes, which were spontaneously occurring all over the planet.

"Odd," he murmured, "That last one felt like a 5.0 on the Richter scale, yet no geological changes in the earth have occurred." He turned to his computer, which displayed a satellite view of his location and the radius around it. "However, things above the earth look different. The grass has never looked that green before... And there weren't that many trees in the forest hours ago."

He stood up from his controls and walked across the room. He pressed a button on the wall, and the center of the floor opened up halfway as a pedestal with three colorful emeralds rose up. These emeralds were glowing brightly at a pulse rate. "What worries me the most is the Chaos Emerald's reaction to each one," Robotnik continued to speak, "It's as if they're the ones controlling these earthquakes."

A thought suddenly entered his mind. "Would this have anything to do with the other world?"

"Allow me to answer that one for you..."

Robotnik whipped around at the voice that sounded alot like his, and came face to face with a figure similar to his own.

* * *

According to Gardon, one of the Sol Emeralds was located by the East coast. As always, when the location was revealed, Blaze would do her job and retrieve it. Having saved the emeralds on dozen occasions, she knew every inch of the planet and always where to go...

Or so she thought.

She went the regular route towards the beach area, right where Gardon had detected the emerald. But once she got there, she noticed that she was at the coast... but not the same as before. She could've sworn she was heading in the right direction, before she was caught in a near massive earthquake. How could that one earthquake, no matter how big, suddenly change everything around?

Something definitely wasn't right here.

* * *

Sonic was just near the border of Mobodoon before he heard a faint tune of "Live and Learn". He skidded to a halt and lifted his leg up, fishing through his sneaker to pull out his cell phone. Without pockets, he had to resort to his gloves and shoes to carry his belongings.

He looked at the caller ID, nearly surprised to see who was calling, and pressed the answer key. "Sally! Never thought I'd hear from you again!"

"Can the cute little act, Sonic," a presumptuous voice responded from the other line, "Are you aware of the earthquakes that are occurring all around Mobius?"

"All over? I just got caught up in a huge one about a minute ago. Didn't know they were all over the place."

"Suspicious, isn't it? Your mother called for an emergency meeting with my father. I need you to come to Mobotropolis to pick us up. We should be meeting about this ASAP."

Sonic grinned and rubbed his nose, even though Sally couldn't see this on the phone. "So after all this time, you only call me for a favor? Don'tcha think that's a tad shallow?"

"Sonic!" Sally scolded, "This is serious! Get over here right away!"

"Yes your high and mightyness," Sonic groaned and clicked his phone off. Talking to his ex-girlfriend was about as pleasant as getting a root canal, no matter what the situation was. Then again, even when they were dating, he could barely put up with her attitude.

Nevertheless, he put his annoyance aside and raced off in the opposite direction towards Mobodoon's sister kingdom.

* * *

As she ran by, Blaze couldn't help but notice many unfamiliar elements on the island. Some things she knew, others she never saw before. But then there were a thing or two that she remembered seeing once, but didn't remember them being there. Something definitely was amiss... Although the beach seemed different, she WAS able to find the Sol Emerald. It was best to find the rest as soon as possible. That would be one worry off her mind.

_**WOOOSH**_

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a quick blast of wind knocked into her, blowing out the trail of flames she left behind, and blew her off her feet, sprawling on the ground.

"What was that?!" That blue blast was awfully familiar...

Sonic slammed his feet into the ground, skidding to a harsh halt. Those flames... Was it...?

He doubled back, racing to where he spotted the flames. Sure enough, grumbling and lifting herself back up to her feet, was a lavender cat...

"BLAZE!"

The princess glanced up, surprised at the voice calling her name. "Sonic?!"

There he was... the one man that she felt feelings for that she never felt before. Standing in front of him. "Sonic!!"

"Blaze!" the blue hedgehog raced at her, grabbing her hands. She grabbed back as the two laughed in delight, happy to see each other once again... and suddenly realized they were holding hands, and quickly let go, blushing brightly.

"Sonic... It's good to see you again."

"Ditto," Sonic smiled, but replaced it with a confused frown. "Wait, what are you doing here? Why aren't you in your world?"

Blaze glared. "I could ask the same of you."

"Well whose world are we in then?"

Blaze looked to the ground, unable to answer. This looked like her world... but it also looked so different. If only these things came easy...

"Well," Sonic broke the silence, grabbing her attention, "Whose ever world this is, I'm sure we'll find an answer. Come on, we'll head back to my place... Or wait, is it YOUR place?" Sonic scratched his head, clueless, "Maybe we should do a little exploring first..."

"I have no time for that," said Blaze, "I must gather all the Sol Emeralds before they fall into the wrong hands. In this situation, I cannot afford that now."

Sonic gave an assuring smile. "I'll help you."

"No, it's fine," Blaze looked away. She already have enough on her mind. She didn't need more complications, especially this particular one...

"Blaze, come on. Don't shut me out."

"I'm sure you can handle yourself. You should worry about getting the Chaos Emeralds. There's no need in overstressing ourselves with two worlds in peril."

"We won't have to if something happens and BOTH our worlds are destroyed. We need to work together, especially if both the Chaos and Sol Emeralds are involved."

"Get the Chaos Emeralds. We'll work something out from there."

"Blaze—"

"Just leave me be, Sonic!" Blaze turned and jogged off. Sonic went to follow, but the cat whipped around to face him, looking a mix of anger and annoyance. "And don't you dare follow me! You know what'll happen if you do." She held out her palm and ignited a ball of flames. Sonic cringed and stepped backwards, watching as Blaze turned back and raced off.

The hedgehog sighed. That didn't go as well as he hoped. Wonder what was bothering her so badly that she was resorting back to her old personality? If the worlds were merging, then perhaps he would see her again... and it would turn out better next time.

He turned and raced back to Mobodoon.


	3. Brief Briefings

The castle guard glanced up suddenly at the familiar noise of sound barriers breaking, and in an instant, the prince of Mobodoon was suddenly right in front of him. He greeted Sonic with a respected bow. "Your highness."

"Please, none of that," Sonic waved his hands.

The guard noticed a look on Sonic's face; something was irritating him more than just being referred to as his title. "What troubles you, son?"

Sonic looked away, slightly bashful, and rubbed the back of his head. "A lot of things," he answered, "Things I'll never understand..."

"Girl trouble, eh?"

"I guess you could say that."

**FWOOSH!**

Sonic and the guard jumped back and yelped at the sudden fireball which nearly singed them and stuck the ground like a small comet. The guard instinctively raised his sword at the purple figure standing not too far off. "Cease your attack at once, invader!"

Sonic looked over at the figure, blinking in astonishment, and put his hand on the sword, lowering it. "Relax, dude," he told the guard, "She's cool."

"Cool?!" the guard barked, "She almost fried us!"

"She's an exception..." Sonic glared over at the feline princess. "What's your problem, Blaze??"

"You!" the cat screeched, "You're my problem! I thought I told you NOT to follow me!"

Sonic sneered. "I'm not following you!"

Blaze returned the sneer. "Then what are you doing here??"

"I LIVE here!"

"What do you mean you live here?? _**I**_ live here!!"

The guard began to sweat. "I take it _she's_ the girl you're having problems with?" he asked the hedgehog, who shot him a nasty look.

"Stay out of it, will ya?!"

Blaze looked over to the castle... and her anger melted into confusion. "What..?" she dropped her stance and turned in astonishment. "This isn't Sol Castle..."

"No," said Sonic, cautiously approaching her, "This is Castle Hedgehog, in Mobodoon."

"Mobo-what?" Blaze turned her head to Sonic.

"My kingdom."

"YOUR kingdom?" cried Blaze, "But where's mine? And my guards? I thought I was at Sol!" She turned her head to the ground. "Then this must be _your_ world I'm in..."

Sonic rubbed his chin, recalling what he spotted an hour ago. "Wait... Blaze, is there something called a _Salmon Shoppe_ in your world?"

"Of course," Blaze responded, "It's my favorite restaurant. I personally saw to it that they was one on every section in Sol."

"Never heard of the place," said Sonic, "This is your world too."

"What?? But how is this possible?"

Before any answer was made, everyone was nearly thrown to the ground as another earthquake shook through the kingdom.

"I'm willing to bet those earthquakes have something to do with it," said Sonic once it began to die down.

"If only I could get back to my castle and talk it through with my soldiers," murmured Blaze.

Sonic grinned and gave an assuring thumbs-up. "Well, until your guys pop up," he said, "you can borrow mine. C'mon, you get to meet my family!" The hedgehog led the way past the gate, as Blaze hung back, watching him enter enthusiastically.

"Family..."

It was one of the things that made her and Sonic different...

"Coming?"

Blaze blinked and noticed Sonic had stopped halfway and was looking back at her, waiting for her to follow. "Oh... right."

As she trotted after him, the guard watched as they disappeared into the castle. He then shook his head. "And here I thought that it was Princess Sally that was the girl giving him problems..."

* * *

Sonic led Blaze through Castle Hedgehog as he asked about the whereabouts of his mother. He finally got word that she was in the War Room, so he and Blaze made lefts and rights all through the castle, until they finally reached a certain set of doors and entered. At the round table sat Queen Aleena, with her personal guard Argus standing close by, along with a few other soldiers both from Mobodoon and Mobotropolis. Sitting across from Aleena was the King of Mobotropolis, Maximillian, and standing behind him was his daughter...

"Sally?!" Sonic cried, suddenly remembering his job from earlier.

"Hello, Sonic," muttered Sally as she rolled her big, blue eyes at him. "Nice of you to remember us. When it took more than 10 minutes for you to come over, we took it upon ourselves to travel here. What happened to you?"

Sonic sweat slightly as Sally eyed the purple cat standing behind him. Just as Sonic was about to answer, she quickly cut him off. "Oh let me guess. You got distracted when you saw this girl here and decided to stop and flirt with her, am I right?"

Both Sonic and Blaze's cheeks burned brightly. "Wha?! No!" Sonic cried, "It's not like that at all!"

"Then why are you two blushing?"

The two were at loss for words. Luckily, Aleena decided to jump in. "Now Sally," she spoke, "I'm certain that there's a good reason for Sonic bringing this young lady with him here."

Sonic nodded. "Mom, remember when I told you about this other world and the girl that came over? And when Tails and I were thrown into hers over a month ago? This is that girl. Everyone, this is Princess Blaze of Sol."

Aleena's face brightened. "So _you're_ Blaze the Cat," she said as she stood up and made her way over, offering a hand. "My son has told me so much about you. It's so nice to finally meet you."

Blaze took her hand and gave a polite bow. "The pleasure is mine, your majesty."

"Now, wait," said King Max, "Miss Blaze, if you are from another world, what brings you here yet again?"

"The first time I was brought here, my nemesis Nega had stolen the Sol Emeralds, which is your version of the Chaos Emeralds, and accidentally ripped an opening to this dimension. The similar thing happened to Sonic when he and Tails came into my world."

"So we're betting that the emeralds have something to do with this whole thing," Sonic added, "Which is why we need to collect them ASAP, before Eggman decides he wants to try another takeover attempt."

"If that's the case," Sally stepped in, taking over as if her daddy wasn't in the room, "then we must send out troops to retrieve all the emeralds so we can resolve all this."

"No need, Sal," said Sonic, crossing his arms and glaring at the princess, "I can get them in a flash. It's what I'm known for after all."

Sally did not look pleased. "Sonic, stop making everything about you!" she snapped, "We all don't need you to come to the rescue every time someone sneezes. Stay back for once!"

Sonic scowled. Here she goes again... "I'm doing this because I know the Chaos Emeralds better than anyone else. I'd feel better if _I_ looked into this!"

"Why do you always have to play the big-shot hero? Why don't you act like a _real_ prince and worry about your _people_ instead of your adventures! There are a lot of people out there who are scared and confused, with all these earthquakes going on. Maybe you should think about _them _instead of yourself!"

"There'll be no one to think about if something happens and our worlds were to suddenly disappear!"

"It's not like you're the only person who can stop this!"

Blaze had about enough of this ear-breaking bickering. "_Excuse me!"_

Sonic and Sally finally shut up, and everyone turned their attention to Blaze. "... If you don't mind," she said, "I'm just going to go search for my Sol Emeralds. What _you two_ do with the Chaos Emeralds is your business."

Sonic's face eased up as he stepped towards the cat. "Blaze..."

"Good idea," Sally cut in, "You should get together with your advisers."

"I would if I could, but they're currently missing in action," Blaze responded.

Sally narrowed her eyes. "Well, if you made it here, I'm sure _they're_ somewhere as well." It was becoming clear that she did not want Blaze around. Blaze stared coldly back at the squirrel princess before taking her leave.

Once she was gone, Sonic glared back at Sally. "So why aren't you giving her a hard time about this?"

Sally seethed. "Don't start, Sonic..."

Before another argument could break out, Aleena quickly jumped in the middle. "Sonic, why don't you go find Manic and Sonia? They went out to help the citizens of Mobodoon, assisting with injuries and such."

Sonic sighed and turned to leave, taking a quick glance at Sally before speeding off. Aleena looked back at the princess sorrowfully, but Sally looked as if she was justified. King Max decided to try and break the ice, as well as look as though he had some control.

"Aleena, I suggest we travel back to Mobotropolis. If the Chaos Emeralds are indeed involved, we should speak with your brother-in-law, Sir Charles. After all, he _is_ the famous scholar of Chaos Emeralds."


	4. Prince? Or Sonic?

As Sonic raced through the streets of Mobodoon, he took a good look to the left and right of himself. All around him were crowds of people, crying, screaming, arguing, all confused and frightend at what was going on. Many buildings had been damaged by the earthquakes, and practically the worst of everyone was coming out.

But that wasn't the worst of it. People seemed to be upset with him as he went by, crying out to him, demanding to know what was happening, shouting at him for doing nothing. All this time, whenever Eggman plotted an attack, he just went straight to the problem. Never did he see first hand how it affected the people of his kingdom.

As much as he hated to admit it... maybe Sally did have a point.

"Hey Sonic!"

The hedgehog screeched to a halt as a young lynx child stepped in his path, staring upwards at him. "What'ya doin', Sonic?" the kid asked, referring to him as if he knew him for years. Nearly everyone in Mobodoon seemed to know Sonic like an old buddy. Save for the guards and soldiers at the castle, everyone always called him "Sonic", and never referred to him as a prince of anything.

"Why're ya walkin' 'round here 'stead o' stoppin' all this?"

Sonic bit his lip. It was sort of hard to explain the situation at hand, especially to a young child, whom if like any other young boy, probably idolized him greater than any rockstar in the word. How could he tell him that he needed to be a mature, responsible prince and look after the well-being of his subjects when all he was basically known for was kicking the crap out of robots? "Well... it's kinda complicated."

The lynx only blinked, confused. "Why?"

Sonic sighed in response. "Wish I had an answer..."

"Kid makes a good point, Sonic."

Sonic glanced up to see his sister, Sonia, a magenta hedgehog, walk towards the two, carrying a younger, female lynx in her arms. "It's not like you to be wasting time while something's totally up."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Now I'm _wasting_ time?" he groaned, "And here I thought I was actually trying to _help_ my people."

"Usually your way of helping people is getting to the bottom of things like the boy scout you are," said Sonia. Sonic smiled in response. It was good to have some relative agreement on his part. "If you're worried about everyone here, you shouldn't have to be. Manic and I got things covered." She pointed over to the green hedgehog, not far off... standing there, staring into the sky along with another kid. "... Well, _I_ do at least. Not so sure about _him_."

Sonic glanced up to the sky to see what was worth staring at. High above in clear view against skyblue backdrop was a large, purple moon. Sonic recognized that moon from Blaze's world. Apparently, more and more things were coming over.

"There's a lot of other things appearing that's never been here before," Sonia continued, "You think this is any of Eggman's doings?"

"I dunno about Eggman," said Sonic, rubbing his chin, "But I know the Chaos Emeralds are a big part of it."

"Then get th' emeralds, go Supa' Sonic, and beat up Eggman!" the lynx boy cheered.

Sonic chuckled slightly. "It ain't that simple, kid. That's not exactly the 'princely' thing to do."

"And since when did you care about doing things the 'princely' way?" snarked Sonia.

"When I realized I'm a stupid prince that's gotta do stupid prince things."

Sonia scoffed, then shifted the child to her other arm and thrusted her fist. "Prince Takeshi Maurice Hedgehog of Mobodoon, you are known around these parts as _Sonic the Hedgehog_, and definetely not as some big-headed royalty, like oh say Sally. Don't do things the 'prince's' way, do them the 'Sonic' way!"

"Yaa!" the little girl cried, "Da' Sonik waaay!"

The hedgehogs chucked in the child's cuteness. Sonic then nodded his head. "You're right. Take care of everyone for me, okay?"

Sonia gave a thumbs up. "Good luck!"

Before taking his leave, Sonic strolled up towards Manic and the pre-teen lynx. "It's a comet!!" cried the lynx.

"No way, dude," said Manic, "It's a UFO. I mean, c'mon, comes outta nowhere, just sits up in space, staring at us an' proll'y waitin' for us to go to sleep so it can attack. It's so damn obvious!"

"You're both wrong," said Sonic, approaching the two and placing a hand on each their shoulders. "It's a jelly doughnut. A giant grape-filled doughnut that orbits the world..." He grinned and sprinted off. "At least that's what my pal Marine told me."

Manic and the lynx watched as Sonic disappeared down the road. "Dude..." murmured Manic, "That guy is nuts."

* * *

"So the Chaos and Sol Emeralds are bringing both worlds together?" Robotnik clarified his alter-ego, Dr. Nega's, story.

"Indeed," Nega responded, "Though why and how I'm still not sure. But that's the least of our worries."

He pressed a button, and a holographic map of Mobius appeared in front of them. "As you can see, although the earthquakes have not made any geographic changes, elements and objects from my world are entering yours, and vice versa."

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Robotnik.

"It's perfectly clear, Ivo!" Nega thrusted his fist, "With both worlds as one, all we need are both sets of emeralds, and we'll have the ultimate Eggman Utopia at our hands!"

"Assuming, of course, there are no pesky hedgehogs or cats to stand in our way," said Robotnik, playing devil's advocate.

"Ah, not to worry," Nega grinned, holding up a steel storage container. He opened it up to reveal 4 shiny, familiar gems. "I'm already a step ahead of Blaze. While I'm able to track down the Sol Emeralds with my radar, she can only rely on her nose, what without her precious koala bear soldier to point them out for her. Her weakness will be our strength!"

Robotnik grinned, placing his fingers together kaniveingly. "With your Sol Emeralds and the three Chaos Emeralds I have now, we're already halfway finished before we really got started!"

"How THAT'S for a change?" Nega snickered, "Aren't you glad I dropped by?"

* * *

_Back at Mobotropolis..._

* * *

"Hey Sally-girl!" the southern rabbit approached her best friend, embracing her in a welcome-home hug.

"Hi Bunnie," Sally returned the gesture.

"How went th' meeting?"

"Not as smooth as I'd hope," Sally sighed and dragged herself to the window. Bunnie brought up the rear and joined her. "I let my father take over in the meeting. I just needed to get away and straighten things out."

"Don't worreh," said Bunnie, "Things'll work out in th' end. Knowin' you, you'll find a solution. Ah know it."

"Thanks, Bunnie." Sally leaned against the sill of the window, gazing at her peaceful kingdom. "I must do whatever I can to protect this city, and this world. It is my duty as princess."

"Wow..." Bunnie looked at Sally with deep awe, "You really are a disciplined, heart-filled, inspirational woman."

"Thanks," Sally sighed, "Now if only Sonic could act the same way."

"How is ol' sugarhog doin'?"

"The same. Dumb as always."

"No tootin'!" Bunnie chuckled, "He's such a cutie when he ain't got no clue."

"In your case, he's a cutie twenty-four, seven."

The girls laughed amongst themselves.

"Ahh, don't you be worryin' yoah pretty lil' head off," said Bunnie, "Ah'm shoah he'll come around, 'specially with a smart young lady like yoahself holdin' th' whip. If'n he like any other mandog, he'll be easy to tame."

Sally smirked. "You're right, Bunnie. Knowing Sonic, he'll come running back to me. If he has any bit of brains, he'll actually do something right and stick with me."


	5. Let's Find Those Emeralds!

--

**WARNING:** O.C alert!! Chopper the Chipmunk and his sister Tara are (c) me...

...

oh relax, will you?! They're only in this one chapter and play no real importance to the plot! :P

--

--

"Hey, is Tails home?" Sonic asked immediately once the front door was answered by Tails' adopted sister, Tara.

"Yes, he is," the chipmunk responded, the tone of her answer just as sullen as her face, which beared years of emotional and verbal abuse by her birth mother, "It's nice of you to come just to see him. _We're_ doing fine too, in light of all this, thanks for your concern."

"Yeah, good to hear," Sonic gently nudged her to the side and let himself in, heading down the hallway towards Tails' home.

"You were _not_ invited inside!" Tara called down to him.

"Please, I'm practically family!"

Sonic stopped at his young friend's bedroom door, which was opened a crack. He peered inside into a dark room, the only light coming from a computer monitor from the other side of the room. The silhouette of a fox boy sat in front of the monitors, examining closely the reports of all the world's events on a website.

"Tails, you really shouldn't be sitting in the dark like this," Sonic spoke, "You'll become as emo as Tara. Besides, it can't be too good for your eyes..."

Tails turned his head towards Sonic. "I was wondering when you'd show up," he said, "You won't believe what's going on all over the place!"

"Does it involve Blaze's world appearing into ours?"

Tails blinked, "How did you know?"

"Ran into her."

"Ohhh," Tails put on a sly smile, "Bet that made all this worth it, huh?"

"Ah, put a cork in it," Sonic slipped inside the bedroom and approached Tails and his computer. "So I take it you're already on the case, huh? Anything exciting I should know about?"

Tails clicked and pointed to various findings on the satellite map on the webpage. "Take a look. All these earthquakes are happening all over Mobius. But none of them have anything to do with the earth shifting, as all these geographic reports are the same. But after each one, something new seems to appear out of nowhere, most likely from Blaze and Marine's world. I can't say for sure how it's possible, but I'm sure you know what needs to be done. Seeing as the coming and going to our world and Blaze's are connected to the emeralds, I say we find them for study. If they fall into the wrong hands in this situation, things can get ugly."

"Boy, nothing can get past you, huh?" said Sonic, remarking on Tails' uncanny ability to state the complete obvious.

"Yeah, yeah," Tails muttered, "So enough on what we need to do. Lemme show you HOW we're gonna do it!" He got up from his computer and led the way out of the bedroom and towards the back door.

"How, huh?" Sonic rubbed his chin as he followed, "Now there's something new and exciting...

.

.

Outside, Tails had opened the doors to what looked like a normal storm cellar. Once inside, though, things looked much advanced and high tech, as if they were inside a spy headquarters. Sonic gave a low whistle. "Where'd all this come from?"

"Spent time on it over the summer," Tails responded, "My little secret lab for all my experiments and inventions, right under my own house. Come on."

Once at the bottom of the steps, they were greeted by a steel blastdoor with a keypad built next to it in the wall. Tails pressed a few keys on the pad, and the doors swished open for the two. But they only made a few steps forward as they approached another security door, this time with a scanner and print of a hand. Tails removed his glove and placed his bare hand on the scanner, and the doors opened once again, leading them to yet another security grid.

"Wow, Tails," said Sonic, "You really are protective of your stuff." Tails gave a slight nod as he gently moved aside his contact lens for the retina scan.

"What can I say?" he responded, "I take my work seriously."

As they entered to what was finally the main room, Tails was taken back to see inside, digging through cabinets, was his own little buddy, sidekick, and adopted brother. "_CHOPPER!_" Tails shouted, "How'd you get in here??"

The young chipmunk pointed to a door. "Came through the basement."

Tails gave a half-hearted look up at Sonic, "Uh, yeah, still working on a few things, like blocking the basement door and all..." He then turned his attention back to the black-furred chipmunk, "What do you think you're doing, going through my stuff like this??"

"Did I leave my Gamecube game in here?"

"No, you didn't, I would've seen it," Tails pointed harshly to the doors, "Now get out!!"

Chopper turned away and marched out, grumbling things that only a 6-year old would find offensive, stopping only to greet Sonic on his way out.

Tails shook his head exasperated. "Sonic, don't ever get a little brother."

Sonic smiled. "Too late. Already got you."

The fox twitched his nose, then shook his head, bringing his attention back to the matter at hand. "Right. Anyway, take a look at this!" He approached his desk and opened one of the drawers, irritated to see that it was a mess, after Chopper had obviously dug through it for the video game. "Darn it...! Where is it?! I could've sworn I stuck it in here!! CHOPPER!"

From the basement door, Chopper's head poked back through. "Yea, bro?"

"What did you do with my radar?!"

Chopper raised an eyebrow. "I didn't see any radar," he said, "but your gameboy here needs to be fixed." He dug into his shoe and pulled out a retro Gameboy, which Tails snatched away.

"Stay outta my stuff, next time!!"

Chopper groaned more 6-year-old obscenities before slamming the door shut behind him. Tails rubbed his forehead a bit before handing the handheld system to Sonic. "Here, take a look at what I made! Pretty cool, huh?"

Sonic took it and examined it. "You didn't make this, Nintendo did!"

"Oy!" Tails slapped his forehead, "It's not a Gameboy... okay, so I recycled the one I use to have before I accidentally dropped it down the garbage disposal. But turn the switch on!"

Sonic hit the black switch on top. The screen lit brightly as a few black dots appeared, blinking and chiming. "Whoa... what's all this?"

"Those are the locations of the emeralds," Tails proudly responded, walking up to a safe and inputting a combination, "It's our own emerald radar!"

Sonic took a closer look. "Wait... it says one of the emeralds is..."

"Here!" Tails had opened his safe and pulled out a shining yellow Chaos Emerald.

Sonic grinned. "Nice job, kiddo!" he exclaimed, "So that's one down, and six to go. Come on!"

The two raced out and headed off for adventure.

* * *

It's been several hours since Blaze left Mobodoon in search of the Sol Emeralds, yet after all that time, she still only had the one from the beach. Without Gardon's tracking ability, without her entire kingdom for that matter, it was practically hopeless. She had to face facts; she couldn't do it alone.

Right now, Sonic was probably busy with looking for his own set of emeralds, along with his group of friends...

Yes... friends... it was because of him (and Cream) that she learned the value of friendship, and how it was okay to accept help. Right now, she could really use it, especially in this strange world that consisted of her's and Sonic's together...

The last time she was here, Cream had guided her and helped with finding the Sol Emeralds. She lived back at Mobodoon, perhaps she could double back and...

No, she couldn't put her through that sort of danger again. She didn't want to risk bringing harm to the young rabbit.

Then who else could help her?

"Marine... Silver... Where could you all be?"

She hoped, whatever happened to her loved ones, that they were okay. She wished there could be a way to find out, but right now, finding the Sol Emeralds was the first priority.

Still... she wished they could be here to help...

...

She wished Sonic were here to help.


	6. Individual Ways to Saving the World

The first place that the emerald radar took the two was, of course, Angel Island.

"Hey Tails," said Sonic as he leapt from the top of their bi-plane, the Tornado, "You, uh, _sure_ that the radar isn't pointing to the _Master Emerald?"_

"I'm pretty sure," the fox responded, hopping off himself. "The radar would pick up an unGodly amount of chaos energy if it was... And actually, it is."

Sonic rolled his eyes, "Oh, wonderful..."

"BUT," Tails pointed the radar into Sonic's face, "There's also a trace of normal chaos energy. That's gotta be from a Chaos Emerald."

"Hope you're right," said Sonic, "Because if you-know-who catches us uninvited here, all hell's gonna break-"

"HALT!"

The two froze in their tracks. Too late...

"Who goes there??"

Sonic groaned. "It's US, ya knucklehead."

Suddenly, a red echidna jumped from a tall tree, landing right in front of the two, blocking their path. "You have no clearance to be here."

Sonic casually walked past him anyway. "Please, we're practically family."

Knuckles cringed at Sonic's behavior, then quickly zipped in front of him. "You know, that's not ALWAYS gonna work! What are you doing here anyway? You _know_ how I hate unwanted guests."

Sonic put on a sad face. "Awww, 'dat's not nice! We wuv youuu!"

Knuckles was not impressed. He looked like he was ready to sock it to the hedgehog once and for all. "On second thought, don't even bother. Anything involving you two also involves _trouble_."

Sonic finally dropped the act, looking annoyed as well. "How can you possibly not know anything about all these earthquakes going on??"

"Um... this is a _floating_ island, Sonic. We don't feel earthquakes, seeing as we're detached from the earth and all."

"So your island floats thousands of feet above the ground. You still get cable, don't you? These events are broadcasting all over the news!"

"I don't watch TV all that much."

Sonic groaned, lowering his head in hopelessness. "You really _are_ detached from the world..."

Tails finally stepped forward and got Knuckles' attention. "We need to get a Chaos Emerald, if you have it. Mobius is in a bit of a pinch, seeing how our world and Blaze's world are somehow being combined."

"_Blaze?"_ Knuckles seethed. He had only met her once, but he remembered her all too well... Last time she was in this world, she had dropped a pile of rocks on his head.

Sonic glared at him. "Yep. She's here in our world again, and we've gotta gather all the emeralds so we can figure out how to fix this whole mess."

"Sure. Anything to get rid of that cat woman," Knuckles turned and motioned the two to follow. "Follow me. I've got a Chaos Emerald hidden at the shrine."

The hedgehog and fox followed. "Y'know, Knuckles," Sonic muttered, "You really should be careful about what you say about someone around certain people."

Knuckles cocked an eyebrow and glanced back. "And what's _that_ suppose to imply, huh?"

Sonic turned away, "Nothing! Just... words of advice."

The echidna shrugged and turned back. "Whatever you say."

.

.

"Here ya go," Knuckles handed Sonic a green Chaos Emerald, once at the Master Emerald shrine, "Try to hide it until you get to your plane. If Rouge sees you've got it, she's gonna want it back."

Sonic grinned. "Thanks. Wanna tag along? I'm sure Rouge is gonna be pretty pissed seeing her precious gem gone. You'll need protection."

"Thanks, but no thanks," said Knuckles, "I'm sure whatever's in store for you guys is much worse than dealing with bat girl. Besides, I don't trust her alone watching the Master Emerald."

"Suit yourself," Sonic and Tails turned and started off.

"Wait a sec."

They turned back.

"If you guys find yourselves deep above your necks," Knuckles grinned and offered his hand, "You give me a buzz."

Sonic smiled, taking his hand and the two squeezed fists affectionately. "Sure thing. Thanks, pal."

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Mobotropolis, King Max had rounded up Sir Charles, the famous Chaos Emerald scholar, and many other scientists as they worked hard in a large laboratory inside Castle Acorn.

"What are your findings, Sir Charles?" King Acorn asked, followed closely by his son Elias, as they entered the room and up to a grayish blue hedgehog with a thick white moustache and eyebrows. Queen Aleena stood behind her brother-in-law, monitoring the process.

"I'm afraid we haven't learned any more than what we already know, your highness," Charles responded, turning from his seat to face the king. "Our geologists were able to detect a massive release of chaos energy at every earthquake that occurs. But nothing is physically happening to the planet's earth, other than things appearing out of nowhere that weren't there before."

"Is there any sort of way of determining why and how it's happening?" asked Prince Elias.

"I'll need a Chaos Emerald to study the effects," responded the hedgehog.

"Already on it," said Max, "I've sent our finest troops to comb the lands of Mobius in search of the emeralds."

Charles shook his head, "With all due respect, your majesty, that may not be quick enough. We need to get to the bottom of all this. If I had time to create a handheld chaos detector, or perhaps if you allowed my nephew Sonic to search, seeing as he has first-hand experience with the emeralds--"

"I'm afraid Sally specifically requested Sonic stay behind on this one," Max interrupted.

Charles sighed. "I don't see why. I can't imagine a better man for the job."

"Sonic said that the emeralds were once the cause of these two worlds intertwining," said Aleena, "I believe he _is_ the go-to guy on this matter. Please let him in on the investigation."

King Acorn let out a low groan. "Very well. Contact your son and tell him to meet us here."

Aleena nodded, and left in search of a phone.

"If only there was a way to contact the princess Blaze," Max continued to speak, "We may need her help on the Sol Emeralds and how they play a part."

Charles blinked. "I'm sorry, sir, but... _Sol Emerald?"_

* * *

"What do you mean he isn't there??" cried Aleena into the phone, "I thought he was helping you with assisting the people!"

"_Really, Mother, do you expect him to hang around here while the world's in danger?_" Sonia replied on the other line, "_I mean, what makes you think that a bunch of palace guards are gonna find the Chaos Emeralds quicker than he would?_"

Aleena rubbed her temples. "I suppose you have a point... But please do me a favor and keep trying to contact him, for progress reports' sake. He'll have to turn his phone back on eventually." She said her good-byes and placed the old-fashioned phone back on the receiver, to which the servant quickly rushed away with it. The queen dragged herself to a nearby chair and slumped into it, exasperated. How is it that kids these days just take control of things on their own?

"What's the status?" King Acorn asked the very moment he walked into the room.

"I tried calling Sonic's cell phone, but he has it shut off. I should've known he went to find the emeralds on his own. He never likes to be bothered when adventuring."

Max gave a low growl. "How could he disobey orders like so?"

"My son was always the rebellious type. Be it against Robotnik, OR authority... If he wasn't already known world-wide, you'd think he _wasn't_ a prince."

Another quake started up. Aleena grasped the handles of the chair as Max held onto the wall for support. A plaque was unhinged off the wall and crashed onto the floor.

Fortunately, it was only a small quake and didn't last more than 10 seconds. "This is why we need total cooperation!" Max shouted, "This whole world is at stake! If we don't pull our acts together, there'll be nothing left to protect!"

"Take it easy!" Aleena rose up from her seat, "Sonic'll think of something."

"Aleena, my daughter raises a good point," Max brought himself to the plaque and picked it back up, "Sonic isn't the only person in the world who is to be counted on. We can't always put everything on his shoulders. We must do our part as well."

"Yes, but _nobody_ makes Sonic do anything," Aleena protested, "He chooses to play a part in all this too, no matter how big."

"I swear, Aleena, you need to learn how to set boundaries," Max grumbled as he hung the plaque back on the wall, reading it as he did so. He stepped back, taking in its words.

"I do _not_ need you to tell me how to raise my children, thank you!" Aleena barked, but noticed Max wasn't paying attention to her, rather putting it all towards the plaque that hung. She approached him to read it as well. "'The powers split, north and south. Two worlds, separate lives. In the greatest peril, the powers unite, and two become one...'"

"That was an old motto in the Royal House of Acorn," said Max, "It was based off that century-old legend."

"It's known very well around Mobodoon as well," said Aleena, "We always used it as our inspiration into merging our kingdoms, remember?"

"Yes..." Max bowed his head in deep thought. "Aleena... You know as well as I do that Mobotropolis and Mobodoon are Mobius' strongest, economic kingdoms. For years our families have discussed how to combine our kingdoms. Remember the days when Sonic and Sally dated? We were counting on a possible engagement to seal the deal once and for all."

"I remember," Aleena nodded, "But that was years ago... Sonic moved on, and I thought Sally had too."

"Aleena, our world is in a great peril," Max explained, "The world needs the two strongest kingdoms... We need to combine, and as soon as possible!"

* * *

**A/N:** I'm getting these updates in on such a timely matter. Now that school's out I've got plenty of time of my hands...

...and not a single bit of life.

Lousy chapter title, I know. But I couldn't think of anything at the last moment. I usually title my stuff "Chapter 1" and so on, so titles aren't exactly my forte...

I know what you're probably thinking... "What's with these dinky chapters?? When are you gonna get to the SonBlaze?!"

This HAPPENS to be more than just a SonBlaze, ya know... it's also how their worlds come together, there's a whole seperate plot to it other than "Wow our worlds are together, let's go out now!"

WAIT, DON'T GO!!

Okay okay, there's gonna be some major SonBlaze in the next chapter, I promise!

* * *


	7. Time to Team Up!

The sun had just set as Sonic and Tails blazed through the forest, two new Chaos Emeralds in hand.

"Wow, Sonic, that was amazing how you were able to out-speed that giant eagle... in _mid-air!"_

"What can I say, I'm fast either on the ground OR the air," the hedgehog grinned, "But way to snatch that emerald out of its nest before its baby could eat it!"

"Getting Chaos Emeralds may be dangerous... but it sure is a lot of fun!" Tails studied the emerald radar in his hands. "Hey good news, Sonic! The radar's picking up a bunch of emeralds straight ahead! We should be done by the end of the night!"

"Sweet! Let's go!" Sonic turned and looked straight ahead, ready to blast full force. But instead, he found himself slowing down upon sighting rising smoke up ahead. He slowly skidded to a halt near the edge of a hill and gazed over. Far below was a small camp fire, and sitting in front of it, knees folded to her chin helplessly as she gazed into the fire, was none other than...

"Blaze?" Sonic spoke as Tails landed next to him. "What's she doing hanging around here like this?"

"She looks a little lost," said Tails, "Do you think she needs help?"

"Probably..." Sonic stared down at the purple cat. Although she had her back facing the duo, he could tell she was feeling hopeless, quiet, lonely... "But not the kind you're thinking about."

Tails cocked an eyebrow. "What _kind_ of help then?"

For a kid genius, he sure was clueless a lot...

"Look," the hedgehog sighed, "Why don't you go on ahead and find those emeralds you spotted. I'll catch up."

"You sure?"

"Yes!" Sonic waved his hands in a shooing motion, "Go on, scat!"

"Okay..." Tails whirled his namesake and lifted into the air, "But let Blaze know if she needs help, I can switch polarities on the radar and make it find the Sol Emeralds too."

Sonic nodded, but his attention was on the cat. As his little buddy left the scene, he jumped down the cliff and skidded down the grassy knoll, just stopping behind the princess, who was not expecting a visitor and was surprised to suddenly find someone standing behind her. She jumped instinctively to her feet and ignited flames into her palms. "Who's there?!"

"Relax, Blaze, it's me," Sonic spoke, easing her anxiety.

Blaze snuffed the flames and turned away. "It's not nice to sneak up on people like that," she muttered, "What are you doing here, anyway? Aren't you suppose to be looking for the Chaos Emeralds?"

"I could say the same thing about you," said Sonic, "You aren't the type to take lunch breaks when you've got your mind set on something. You just do it until it's done."

Blaze lowered her eyelids and turned away. "It doesn't matter what I do..." she murmured, "Everyone is gone... and without the Sol Emeralds, the whole rest of my world will go with it. But how can I save it if I can't even find the emeralds?? What kind of guardian am I??" She slumped back to the ground, pulling her knees back to her chin. "I've let everyone down... Especially my family..."

This was gonna be a tough one, Sonic could tell. But he decided to try, and sat himself next to Blaze. "I'm sure they know you're trying your best," he offered, "But that you are only one person."

"Easy for you to say," Blaze grumbled, "_You_ still have your family. I'm the only royal blood left alive. While you serve your kingdom and protect your world because you _choose_ to, I do it because I _have_ to."

Damn, she got him there... Sonic stopped for a moment to think of something else. "Well... Maybe our upbringings were different, but our _goals_ are the same. And hey, c'mon, I could _never_ beat Eggman and save the day all on my own. I've always got my friends to back me up!"

"My friends are gone, Sonic," Blaze spoke in a low voice, "Remember? They're in the other world... I'm all alone out here..."

"You're not alone," said Sonic, reaching over and taking hold of her hand, "You've got me..."

Blaze glanced over at the hedgehog, eyes widening a bit. Sonic realized what he said, and what he was _doing_, and quickly pulled his hand back, clearing his throat. "Um, I mean _us_! _Here!_ In THIS world! Not just me, though, there's also Cream, and Knuckles, Tails..."

Sonic then jumped to his feet, "That's right! Tails has this retro-gameboy that detects Chaos Emeralds! Bet if you ask nicely, he'll rig it to find the Sol ones too."

Blaze looked back into the fire with uncertainty. "I don't want to be a bother..."

"No way!" exclaimed Sonic, "You're no bother, you're a pal! And right now, we all can use a pal about now." He extended his hand to the feline, "So whattya say?" he asked as he tapped his foot, "I'm waaaiiitiiing!"

Blaze rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Well if you're going to be obnoxious about it..." she took hold of his hand and stood back up. "May as well."

Blaze extinguished the camp fire before making her way up the cliff with Sonic, and the two headed off down the path. "So where _is_ Tails anyway?" Blaze asked.

"He went on ahead to find more emeralds," Sonic called back, running full speed ahead of her as she sprinted to keep up, "We're halfway through at this point. Once we're done, we'll start finding the rest of the Sol Emeralds."

"You think it was a good idea to let him go on his own? We don't know how far he went."

"Nah, it's cool. This is ME you're talkin' to! We'll catch up to him in no time!"

Blaze suddenly jolted up straight as a shiny glimmer of metal caught her eye straight ahead. "Sonic, get down!!" she screamed as she quickly flung a fireball in his direction. Sonic barely had time to react as he instinctively dove into the ground as fire flew over his head and struck a robot just before it could strike him in the head with its heavy-metal arm.

"What in the world...?!"

The two looked around themselves, noticing armies of E-series robots circled around, made up mostly of Egg Pawns and Egg Flappers. "It's an ambush!" Blaze cried, "We're surrounded!"

The cry of laughter was more than enough to reveal who was behind all this.

"Eggman!"

Indeed, there was the obese overlord, hovering feet overhead in his Egg-o-Matic. "I knew if I held my emeralds out here long enough, you'd come running, Sonic!" Robotnik sneered, "You've always been so predictable! Now hand over the emeralds that you have!"

"No chance!" Sonic replied.

Blaze pointed an accusing finger at the doctor, "You're the one responsible for everything that's happened, aren't you?"

"Au contraire, my dear," Robotnik smiled, "I have nothing to do with the worlds coming together. But I _do_ plan to use it to my advantage! Once we gather all 14 emeralds, Nega and I shall have complete control over _both_ worlds!"

"I should've known Nega was involved," Blaze seethed, shaking her fist.

"Yeah, but what difference? We're gonna stop him and save the day as always," Sonic turned to Robotnik, "So why don't you just save us all the trouble and give up now!"

Robotnik growled, "Not without a good fight!"

"Well, if you insist!" Sonic revved into a spin and shot towards Robotnik like a canon. Just before he could land a hit, there was a two-tailed fox held up right in front of him. Sonic quickly halted his attack and dropped back to the ground.

"Ah, ah, ahhhh..." Robotnik taunted as he waved an unconscious Tails back and forth.

Sonic growled, tightening his fists. "Let him go!"

"First give me the Chaos Emeralds you have!" Robotnik raised up a spike and held it to the fox's neck,"Not even _you_ are fast enough to stop me from slicing him ear to ear. Are you willing to take that risk?"

Sonic just stood there, stuck in a pinch. He couldn't risk the world going to pieces and Eggman taking control of everything... but he couldn't also risk his best friend's life.

"Sonic, just do what he says," said Blaze, making the decision for him. Sonic obliged, pulling the two Chaos Emeralds he held on from inside his gloves and cautiously placed them below the Egg-O-Matic and stepping back. From the bottom of the hovercraft, a tractor beam shot out and lifted the emeralds up to the doctor's grasp.

Robotnik gave a satisfied laugh and began to drive away. "Have at 'em, robots!" he announced as he took off, tossing Tails behind him. Sonic raced up, jumped off the head of one of the pawns, and catching Tails before hitting the ground. Blaze raced up and stood behind him as the horde of robots surrounded them, ready to attack.

The Egg Flappers went first as a row of them dove in and began firing at the group. Sonic jumped to the side as Blaze somersaulted forward and using the upward impact to launch herself into the air and take out the row with a single straight-kick. Egg Pawns began gathering below her as she began to drop, but she was simply able to blast them away with a shot of fire.

Sonic meanwhile tried to hold his own while holding the K.O-ed Tails in his arms, jumping and kicking away at Egg Pawns that swarmed him, and evading shots from the Flappers. One Flapper in particular was constantly targeting him and tried to ram into him in mid-air. Sonic turned away, only to face a line of Egg Pawns racing towards him. An idea struck him, and he turned back, watching for the Egg Flapper to come in closer. Once he was in reach, Sonic jumped up and bounced off its head to keep it from pulling back up, and the Flapper went kamikaze-ing into the line of Pawns. That took care of a small bunch...

But there was still a large number of robots left. Sonic and Blaze ended up back to back once again. "Well, this is just great," Sonic muttered.

"There's too many of them!" Blaze called back.

Sonic smirked as the robots were closing in. They were definitely getting closer, and Sonic could use it to his advantage. "I've got this one!" he said as he turned around, "Here, take Tails for a moment!" Sonic pushed the fox into Blaze's arms, turned back, and went into another spin. Only this time, he was slightly levitating from the ground and he began glowing a bright blue. Before Blaze could blink, Sonic was off, using his Light Speed Homing attack on every robot in sight. Blaze was in awe at the blue blur streaking back and forth, up and down. But she couldn't stay impressed as she noticed some of the robots managed to evade or be overlooked by the attack.

She set Tails down by a tree, then raced back, leaping into the air and letting lose a blast of fire as she spun around, creating a flaming tornado, which spiraled into whatever remaining robots were left, blowing them to pieces.

Sonic screeched to a halt as Blaze landed back on her head, blowing out whatever flames were left on her. The hedgehog crossed his arms and gave an odd look to the cat. "Y'know," he said, tapping his foot, "I _did_ say that I had it."

"I know," Blaze crossed her arms and gave a coy smile, "But that didn't mean you had to do it alone."

Sonic blinked, confused, and then came to the realization that she was using his own words to her back at him. That was actually kinda funny! He couldn't help but break into chuckles. Surprisingly enough, Blaze couldn't keep back a small laugh herself. She tried to cover her smiling mouth with her hand, but it was obvious she was laughing, which made Sonic laugh even harder. Soon, Blaze couldn't keep it in either, and she wound up laughter just as much, and the two laughed their heads off into the night.

"unh... What's so funny...?"

The laughter died down as they looked over to see Tails sitting up, rubbing his head. They quickly rushed to his side. "You okay, buddy?" Sonic asked as they knelt on each side of him.

"I think so," Tails winced slightly after feeling his bump, "I was flying along, looking for the emeralds, when I got whacked in the head by one of Eggman's bots..." Suddenly, panic struck the fox and he jumped to his feet in alarm. "Eggman!! Oh no! He must've taken my emerald!"

"'Fraid he got a hold of mine too," said Sonic as he and Blaze stood back up, "Don't worry. We can still track him with the emerald radar, right?"

Tails felt inside his gloves, then moved his feet around to feel inside his shoes. "...He must've taken that too."

"_What?!"_ cried Sonic, "Augh! Damn it!"

"Well, Eggman didn't get _this_," Blaze reached in her jacket pocket and pulled out a ruby-colored Sol Emerald. "So long as he doesn't have ALL the emeralds, we're okay." She placed it back into her jacket for safe keeping, "We should hurry back to Mobodoon and plan a new course of action." Tails looked in agreement, but Sonic was looking away, wishing she had suggested something else. Blaze glared hard at the hedgehog, "_Right, Sonic??"_

Sonic rolled his eyes and sighed. "Oh, all right..."

"Good," Blaze turned to Tails, "Are you okay? Or do you need to be carried?"

Tails rubbed his head. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Okay then, let's go!" Blaze turned tail and raced off down the trail. Tails hovered up and gave chase. Sonic watched them as they ran off... and realized he couldn't stand there forever, and finally decided to follow. As he ran, not as fast as he normally would be, a nagging thought kept running through his head.

'_Now Sally's gonna bust my ass for sure...'_

* * *

**A/N:** Oh-kay! XD How was that? ;) A nice action-packed chapter, something FINALLY happening XD Sorry that my fight sequences are below average though :P

over 2,400 words! The longest one yet! And with how my outline looks, they might get longer as they come out


	8. A Proposal

It was a long run, over an hour, but the trio had made it safely across the planet and back home to Mobodoon... only to learn from Sonia that Aleena returned with the Acorn family back to Mobotropolis shortly after Sonic had left. Just great... so now they had to run ALL the way over to Mobotropolis now. Tails decided to stay behind, since during the trip, his bump on the head grew into a migraine, so Sonic and Blaze escorted him back home before taking off for Mobotropolis.

As they raced along, Blaze noticed Sonic wasn't putting his all into his speed, seeing that she was able to keep up nose to nose with him. But not only that, she could tell something was bothering him by looking in his eyes, which she "accidentally" gazed upon in the moonlight. "Sonic?" she called over as they ran along, "Are you all right? You seemed troubled..."

Sonic sighed and lightly shook his head. "Ah, it's nothing really... Just not looking forward to Sally's reaction when we tell her Eggman's got the Chaos Emeralds."

Blaze frowned slightly. "Um... Not that it's any of my concern... but what's going on between you and Sally?"

Sonic closed his eyes as old memories, not all of them pleasant, began flowing back. "Old girlfriend," he responded, "We've known each other since we were five. Everyone always thought we had this 'connection' going on, and imagine the thrill the whole world got when we started going out! But it only lasted two years when I caught her locking lips with some skunk named Geoffrey. THEN she had the nerve to blame _me_ for it!" Sonic took a deep breath, calming himself before continuing, "Even though we've been broken up for a couple years now, people _still_ want to see us get back together. We've always been known as the 'Destiny Couple'."

"'Destiny Couple'...?"

"See, Mobotropolis and Mobodoon have always been 'neighboring kingdoms' for centuries, and our families have discussed about merging together to become an even stronger nation. The world was looking to Sally an' me to get together so the whole deal would be solid. And oddly enough, they still do..."

Blaze looked to the ground. That story reminded her of another... _'The powers unite... and two become one...'_

Sonic couldn't help but notice Blaze was looking somewhat uncomfortable. So he decided to change the topic. "Anyway, enough about me. Tell me a lil' 'bout yourself."

Blaze turned away. "I'd rather not."

"_Come on_," Sonic mockingly pleaded, "I told you about my 'agonizing' past, now it's your turn!"

Blaze glared fiercely back at the hedgehog. "If you must know, my parents will killed when I was only five years old and my kingdom was attacked by one of our enemies. My mother was able to defeat them before succumbing to her injuries. Since then, I was put into immediate training, learning to control my pyrokenesis and how to guard the Sol Emeralds, the other sacred treasures, _and_ all of Sol." She faced away, "I was taken away from my friends... my life as a child... to single handedly bring hope and peace to my kingdom, AND my planet."

Sonic only watched her as they ran alongside each other. That sure explained a lot, why she seemed somewhat "cold", not having the chance to be with her friends and basically be a normal kid; always preferring to work by herself because her duty was always her responsibility alone... Having learned all this made his feel guilty, realizing what he took for granted, being allowed the freedom he had despite being a prince. It also gave him a newfound respect for the cat princess... and perhaps a warmer feeling when he thought about her.

"Hmmmm..." Sonic looked up to Blaze and grinned, "Remind me to take you to a night out on the town when this is all over."

Blaze stared back. "Sonic... when this is all over, we'll be back in our own worlds."

"... oh right."

The two were silent for the rest of the trip.

Luckily, the awkward silence didn't last as they had just made it to Mobotropolis and made their way to Castle Acorn, where they went on yet another search for Sonic's mother, who turned out to be once again in the War Room with the others.

It was like deja vu.

"I know you're pissed, Sally," said Sonic the very moment they walked through the doors. It was exactly what he was expecting. "So just get it over with."

The princess shot from her seat at the table and stormed towards the hedgehog. "Sonic, you have got a lot of nerve coming here. How could you deliberately disobey my orders like that??"

Sonic crossed his arms and fumed. "Well technically, you and I have the same status, and you _were_ on my turf, so I really had no basis to obey _anything._"

Sally grimaced. "Okay then, Mr. Hot-Shot. Did you do something useful for a change? Where are the Chaos Emeralds?"

Sonic's confident attitude suddenly simmered away. "Weellllll..." he shyly dragged his foot across the floor, "We hit a bit of a snag, and uh, now Eggman's got them all."

"What??" Sally shrieked, "Oh just great! Now you made an even bigger mess of things! Way to go, big 'hero'!"

"Lay off, Sally!" Blaze suddenly stepped in between, much to Sally's discontent, "He did his best. And we've still got _this_." She pulled out her red emerald from her jacket pocket. Everyone gathered around in amazement. "This is a Sol Emerald," she explained, "As long as Eggman... I mean Robotnik... doesn't have _all_ the emeralds, we can still beat him."

"Astounding!" Charles removed his spectacles for a better look, "I've studied Chaos Emeralds all my life. But I never dreamed of seeing anything just as strong and magnificent. I would love to have a closer look." He looked up at Blaze for permission. "May I?"

Blaze slowly handed it over. "Just don't break it."

Sonic grinned. "You can trust Uncle Chuck," he said, "He's the one that discovered everything we know today about Chaos Emeralds. Not to mention he's the closest thing to a father I ever had."

Blaze looked over at the elder hedgehog with a smile. "Uncle Chuck, hm? A pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine," Chuck gave a polite bow before taking the Sol Emerald to the table to look it over.

"So, tell me Blaze," Sally spoke, crossing her arms and glaring at the cat, "How well did you do on _your_ emerald hunt? Were you able to find all these 'Sol Emeralds'?"

Blaze gave Sally a cold stare before turning away, slightly humiliated. "No... Just that one."

"Just _one_?" Sally nearly yelped, "Even _Sonic_ would've been able to find more in the amount of time you had!" She then sighed and placed her hands on her hips, "You know, Blaze, I overestimated you. With how you came off, I expected you to be an intelligent, mature princess who planned ahead and knew what she was doing. But apparently, you're just as thickheaded and irresponsible as Sonic. You should've gone looking for your advisors like I told you to."

Blaze was shocked at the comment, and snarled. "How DARE you judge me and my capability, you pathetic excuse for a princess!"

"_Pathetic_?" she scoffed, "Hey, I'm doing a lot better than you are. At least _I'm_ keeping a level-head and am on top of things."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HELP, OTHER THAN BARK USELESS ORDERS?!" Blaze shouted, fire nearly erupting from her body.

"Ladies, please!" Sonic jumped in the middle, trying to separate the two. He then gave a mischievous smirk, "At least take it outside in a mud puddle."

**SMACK!**

Sonic was sent sprawled on his back after both Sally and Blaze punched him in the face.

King Max looked over to Queen Aleena, pleading for a way to stop the childish behavior going on around them. She pointed to Sonic as he climbed back up to his feet, and the squirrel nodded and cleared his throat. At that, Uncle Chuck was snapped away from his concentration and leapt out of his chair. "Right! Uh... Blaze?" he approached the three, Sol Emerald in hand, "I'm very intrigued with this Sol Emerald. Would you mind coming with me to my study and answering a few questions?"

Blaze cocked an eyebrow. "Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't mind," she said, "But I don't believe now is exactly a proper time..."

Chuck lightly cleared his throat. "Yeah, but, we sort of... _need_ to leave..." He motioned his head towards King Max and Queen Aleena, then towards Sonic and Sally.

Blaze glanced over at everyone, confused. Getting no response, she sighed. "Very well."

Chuck led the way out. Blaze gave a longing look towards Sonic, who only shrugged in response as the two left.

Sonic looked over to his mother and Sally's father. "So what's up?"

"Listen, Sonic," Max explained, "Your mother and I have been heavily discussing the situation at hand. Our entire world, as well as Blaze's, are in grave peril, especially now that Dr. Robotnik is involved, having the Chaos Emeralds in hand."

"Tell me something I don't know," Sonic rolled his eyes and tapped his foot.

"Son," Aleena cut in, "We feel that the world needs not just two powerful kingdoms, but an even stronger nation. We feel that it is time we finally merge kingdoms."

Sonic gave a nod. "Okay, cool. So do it."

Max sighed. "It's not that simple, my boy. A normal process requires months, even years to go through. We need an emergency alliance, and that requires the quickest way possible."

"Oooookay. And?"

Sally groaned. "I knew he wouldn't get it..."

"That _means_," spoke Max, "we must combine through holy matrimony."

"Holy... mat...?" Sonic grew silent, the words sinking in. He was finally understanding, and his eyes slowly got wider. "You mean...?"

"He MEANS, simpleton," snapped Sally, "that you need to get down on one knee and ask me to marry you!"

"_WHAT?!"_ Sonic cried, "_No way!"_

"I don't like it anymore than you do," said Sally, "but in times of crisis..." She simply shrugged, "You got to do what you do to best serve your kingdom."

"But... Bu, bu, but..." Sonic stuttered over stutters, "But... but there's _gotta_ be another way! I mean, I'm not the _only_ prince of Mobodoon! Have you asked Manic if he wanted the part?"

"_Absolutely not!"_ Sally shouted, "I'm choosing the _lesser_ of two evils here. At least you're nice enough to not stare at my breasts or try to steal my undergarments."

"Besides, Sonic," King Max added, "people will be more accepting of you two together, seeing how you're the 'Destiny Couple' and all."

Sonic was still in a state of shock. "But... I don't wanna get married! Not now at least..."

Sally approached the hedgehog, staring into his eyes. "Sonic," she murmured, "do you really hate me that much?"

Sonic looked at her, almost wondering why she would ask such a thing. "Sal, you know it's not like that." He looked away, staring at the door as if someone important was there. "It's just..."

Sally turned to see what he was staring at, and it finally dawned on her. "Ohhhh, I get it now," she said, throwing up her arms, "Well you're just going to have to tell Blaze that it's not going to work out."

Sonic was left stunned, speechless. Aleena approached her son, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Sonic," she said, "But there's no other way. It's just like in that story... 'In the greatest peril, the powers unite, and two become one.'"

Sonic looked back at his mother. He didn't want to believe it, but she _was_ his mother after all, and where he was the greatest hero, she was always the wisest queen, and she never steered him wrong before. He gave a low sigh. "Guess I've got no other choice... All right, fine, I'll do it... for my kingdom, AND the world..."

"Atta' boy!" Max clapped his shoulder, "We'll prepare the ceremony first thing in the morning. Come, Sally, let us find your mother and give her the good news."

Sally leaned up and kissed Sonic on the cheek. "You're doing the right thing," she said as she followed her father out.

Aleena looked to the blue hedgehog. He had his back turned to the door, obviously lost in thought.

"Sonic...?"

No response.

"... I'll be in my room if you need me," she said, giving him an apologetic look before finally leaving.

Sonic made his way towards the window, staring out at the kingdom of Mobotropolis, which he would end up sharing rulership with Mobodoon. He rested his hand against the frame. "But what's the point of living in a world where you can't be in love?"

--

--

**A/N: **Man, I'm starting to whore these chapters out like crazy. :P That's called having a lot of free time... and having no life. XD

You can complain about how I wrote Sally all you want, they'll fall on deaf ears. Like I said, this is how I view her overall character.

Same goes for Manic, referring to Sally's comment towards him... in my fanfics, he's very much perverted. XD Not evil like, but humorly like. Think Lupin, or Master Roshi even ;


	9. Decisions of the Heart

Concerned about Sonic, Blaze excused herself from Uncle Chuck's study and made her way down the hall towards the War Room, only to bump into King Max along the way.

"Oh, Blaze!" Max seemed somewhat surprised to see her walking about. "How goes Sir Charles' investigation with the Sol Emerald?"

"I gave him every information that I know," the cat princess responded, "What about Sonic? Is your meeting over? Where is he?"

"I believe Prince Takeshi is still in the War Room, still getting over the big decision we went through."

"Decision?"

"Yes," the king smiled broadly, "Blaze, I would like to formally invite you to history in the making. Tomorrow, after many decades of planning, Mobotropolis and Mobodoon will finally merge into one whole kingdom."

"Merge?" Blaze thought back to what Sonic had told her earlier.

_'See, Mobotropolis and Mobodoon have always been 'neighboring kingdoms' for centuries, and our families have discussed about merging together to become an even stronger nation. The world was looking to Sally an' me to get together so the whole deal would be solid.'_

Before Max could further explain, Blaze instantly understood. "You mean Sonic is going to marry Sally??"

The king was surprised that she got it that quickly. "Why, yes." He gave another proud smile. "You see, our kingdoms have always tried to unite into one nation, in order to increase our power--"

"I know all that!" Blaze waved her hands, "Sonic already told me everything. What I'm more shocked about is _how_ you can consider a wedding at a time like this!"

"Our kingdoms are the strongest ones in all of Mobius," said King Acorn, "To stop all this, the world needs an even stronger nation. This is our only option. Even Sonic knows this."

Blaze clenched her fist. "He would never go along with something like this willingly," she seethed, "You can't force him to do such a thing!"

"Sonic has agreed to go along. It was purely his decision." The squirrel king glared down at Blaze, as if she were a small child he was about to discipline. "Perhaps when you are old enough to take the throne, you will understand what sacrifices must be made for your land."

Blaze narrowed her eyes fiercely. "I've already _taken_ the throne," she hissed, "I've been making sacrifices since I was a child."

Max returned the cold stare. "Then you of all people should understand." He stepped around Blaze and continued his way down the hall. "Sonic does."

Blaze watched stunned as the king of Mobotropolis walked on and disappeared around the corner. Growing furious, she then turned and darted down the hallway to where the War Room was located.

* * *

"What's this all about, Sonic?!" Blaze shrieked as she slammed through the doors, almost causing Sonic to fall over in shock of the sudden entrance.

"Blaze! Wha--?"

"Getting married?!" she continued to shout, "THAT'S your big plan to save the world??"

"Chill out, Blaze!" Sonic waved his hands in defense, "This wasn't my idea! I don't even wanna go through with it!"

"Then why are you?!"

"Because..." Sonic bit his lower lip, slowly turning away from the cat. "Because it's time I acted like a real prince. We have to do whatever we can in order to protect our worlds, no matter how great the sacrifice..."

Blaze seethed once more at this. "Now you're using my words against me??"

Sonic looked up, confused. "Wha..?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Blaze shouted, "Did they lobotomize you while I was gone?? This isn't like you at all!"

Sonic grimaced, "Well why do _you_ care so much??"

The two were silent, staring at each other, waiting either for an answer or to come up with one. Sonic stared into Blaze, wanting her to say that she didn't want him to go through with all this, and that she wanted to be the one with him instead. Blaze gazed back, wanting desperately to tell him just how much he means to her, and that she'd rather the whole entire universe collapsed on itself rather than have him marry that snooty little princess.

But it wasn't that easy... and she decided to go with the most lenient answer.

"...You really are stupid, you know that?"

"Excuse me?!" Sonic looked as if he was slapped in the face. "You little brat!! After all I've done for you--!"

"Which I could've done without your help!" Blaze spat, "Good luck saving us all with your precious _wedding!"_

"Oh I can't wait until you go back to your wonderful world of emo and never have to bother me again! Good riddance!"

Blaze turned and stormed off, "Enjoy your marriage to that little bitch!"

"I _will_! She'd make a better lover than you ever would!!"

Blaze froze in her tracks, silent. Sonic realized that he may have gone a bit too far. "Uh... Blaze, I--"

SLAM!

She exited the room in raging fury. The hedgehog stood there in silence, stunned with himself at what he actually said. Now things have gotten much worse... He turned back to the window and slammed his head against the frame. "Idiot!!"

Blaze, meanwhile, was racing down the hall, fast as she could, in search for the exit. On the way, she passed Uncle Chuck, who was just coming out of his study. "Oh, Blaze, I--"

_WHOOSH!_

She darted past without even acknowledging him. Chuck held out the red gem that she had given him. "Wait! I have your Sol Emerald!"

"KEEP IT!" Blaze cried back as she disappeared around the corner. She didn't want to deal with Sol Emeralds, nor Sol itself, or anything anymore...

Chuck watched as she ran off. He knew of possible wedding plans that King Max and Queen Aleena were discussing with Sally. He didn't know Blaze had feelings for Sonic... No doubt that's why she was running away.

He decided to have a talk with Sonic.

* * *

"Idiot!! Idiot!! Idiot!!" Sonic shouted to himself while banging his head against the window frame over and over.

After several good hits, his head hurt enough to finally let himself stop. He rested his arm against the frame to lean his forehead on. 'I can't believe I said that to her...' he thought to himself while sighing, 'But... it's probably for the best. It's not like we can be together or whatever. She said it herself once; we live in two different worlds. We can't co-exist... I have to do what I can for my kingdom...'

He remembered only two years back, Blaze saying something similar to that extent, and his own reply to that_. "You don't have to do it alone. You can always reach out and rely on your friends for help..."_

And Blaze's response to him not more than five minutes ago... "_This isn't like you at all!"_

...

"What am I _doing_?!" Sonic suddenly cried out, "Eggman's got the emeralds, the world's in danger of annihilation, and here _I_ am worrying about getting _married_! My God, I'm as bad as Amy..." He trailed across the room, "But what am I suppose to do then...?"

He was reminded of some words of wisdom he heard from his sister earlier that day... "_Don't do things the 'prince' way, do it the __Sonic__ way!"_

He knew what he had to do.

* * *

Blaze dashed across Mobotropolis at top speed, nearly out of breath, but not allowing herself to ease up. She wanted to get as far away as she could, away from him, away from herself, away from everything...

She eventually found herself racing along through an empty forest, just by the outskirts of the city, but she barely cared about where she wound up. Only when she caught herself before nearly sliding down a steep colluvium did she finally stop to rest. She grabbed a low hanging branch and pulled herself up before she had fallen, and ended up using the tree to lean against as she fell to her knees and suddenly broke into tears.

She couldn't quite understand why she was so emotional. The last time she ever shed tears was ten years ago, after learning of her parents' untimely fate. After that, she had to remove all emotion and build up strength in order to protect her world. So why was she losing it now? Was it because of Sonic? What made _him_ so special? What would her family think? Her people? Would they lose respect for her? Would they gain more? Would they continue to trust her? Would they understand that she had feelings like every other living being?

She didn't know what to do, or what to believe anymore.

She sat up and rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. "This is not the time for such weakness," she murmured to herself, "I must have total control in order to save my world."

_To save our world..._

What Sonic had said. She didn't want to believe it, but he was right. She didn't want him to be right. She wanted him to be like his regular self, to say something in the lines of doing it themselves, finding some sort of miracle, and seeing what comes out of it... Even if they failed, at least they had fun.

Blaze shook her head. King Acorn was right. To serve your people meant to make sacrifices, even if that sacrifice was Sonic. It was for the best, especially for him and his world. He had to do what needed to save it by becoming stronger, and for him that meant merging the two greatest kingdoms. Just like in the prophecy, from a story she once adored, but was now a mere childish tale.

_'In the greatest peril, the powers unite, and two become one.'_

God, she never hated that story more than she did now.

* * *

"Sonic?" Uncle Chuck peeked his head inside the War Room, "You in here, sonny boy?"

Receiving no answer, the elder hedgehog allowed himself in. "Sonic? Where are you?" he called, "If there's anything you want to talk to me about, I'm right here."

He looked around himself. Sonic wasn't in any corner, huddling in fear of the thought of marriage, wasn't standing in an awkward part of the room with his back turned, and clearly wasn't hiding to play a prank. He would've sprung out and scared him by now.

A gust of wind grabbed his attention. He turned to the window to see it wide open, the curtain wavering back and forth, blowing at a peice of paper on the table, held by a paperweight. He came over and took the paper, reading the chicken-scratch that was obviously Sonic's handwriting.

_Went to find emeralds. Screw the wedding! -Sonic_

"I should've known," Chuck sighed, "This is more his style, after all..." He looked towards the open window, "Just come back safe and sound, sonny boy..."

He glanced out, hoping maybe to catch sight of him running off in the distance... but instead got a full eye-view of a red, metallic airship floating just above the castle.

* * *

He didn't care if he had no clue where to start. He didn't care if he had to overturn every single rock. He didn't care if he had to go all the way back to Mobodoon, wake Tails from his headache-induced sleep, and force him to make a new radar. Sonic was going to find Eggman, get back the emeralds, and save his world, no matter what it took.

He raced along a cliff, just by the outskirts of Mobotropolis, hopefully for a better look below. But unfortunately, that's when another earthquake struck. "Aw, no!" Sonic cried, "Not now!!"

The quake jostled him all over the ground, causing him to lose his footing, and he wound up getting tossed over the cliff. Noticing he wasn't bumping into the ground, Sonic turned himself around to see that he was falling, and a deep fall it was. Fortunately, he was in this kind of predicament before, and easily knew what to do. He spun himself into a ball and shot towards the side of the cliff, bouncing off and on as he fell, doing it until he was able to spin down the cliff at top speed and simply roll from the cliff to the ground. Once at the bottom, he skidded to a halt, just as the earthquake was dying down.

"Whew," he sighed with relief, "That was a close one..." He gazed back up the cliff, "That was the roughest one yet. Eggman must have found the rest of the emeralds. Still..." He raced back up the cliff, and climbed a higher mountain for a better look, "Better make sure the guys at Castle Acorn are okay..."

Once at the highest peak, he balanced on one foot on a narrow rock, gazing across the kingdom not too far off...

And spotted Eggman's Egg Carrier right above the castle.

"No!" Sonic wasted no time jumping down and rushing back towards the castle as fast as Mach 1 could take him.

* * *

Blaze jolted upright suddenly as a dark feeling hit her. She could feel it in her heart... the Sol Emeralds were all together.

But then that could only mean...

She jumped to her feet and made her way back towards the castle.

* * *

From the top of the Egg Carrier, a tall metal rod rose into the sky, while below, metallic orbs were released from hatches and surrounded the castle at various angles. Once they were all in place, the rod shot out a green energy, which was caught by all the orbs, and engulfed both the airship and the castle in a bright green force field. Nothing could get it, nor out.

More hatches opened from the bottom and robots began raining down into the castle. The guards needed no order to defend their stations, but despite their swords, guns, and overall numbers, the robots were too strong and effortlessly took each soldier out. Robotnik was clearly prepared and knew how to overpower the kingdom's forces.

"Max!" Alicia, the Queen of Mobotropolis, came running down the hall and into her husband's arms, the rest of the Acorn family not far behind. "We're being invaded! Dr. Robotnik's forces have already broken through and defeated our soldiers!"

"At this rate, it won't be long before he takes over the whole kingdom," Elias growled, holding his own wife and child close to him.

Max bowed his head and closed his eyes. "In that case, we have no other choice," he said as he looked towards Sally, "Find your fiancé and tell him we must start the marriage proceedings right away."

"You won't find him here, your majesty."

The royal family turned to see Chuck approaching them, "Sonic's gone. He ran off just before Robotnik got here."

"What??" Sally cried, "Why that coward!! How could he abandon his people like this??"

"He isn't abandoning them, princess," said Chuck, "He's helping them... in his own way."

And at that, robots burst through and began taking hostages.

--

--

--

**A/N: **Is it really this healthy to spout out a new chapter in this amount of time?

Well, today was my day off work so I found time to quickly finish :D I'm working five days in a row starting tomorrow, and chapter nine is going to have a alot in it, so maybe that'll take some time. ; Like people are actually complaining about quick updates. XD


	10. The Greatest Peril, part 1

By the time both Sonic and Blaze made it to Castle Acorn, they were already too late. A massive green force field had completely blanketed the castle, the Egg Carrier, and the orbs that held the field.

Blaze threw her fist in the air. "Damn it!" she cried, "We were too slow!"

Sonic looked over, finally noticing the lavender cat was right next to him. "Blaze! Um, hey listen, I--"

"Forget about it, Sonic," Blaze didn't even look back at him.

"But, I didn't mean to--"

"We can talk about it later," she nearly hissed, "We have more pressing matters at hand here!" She pointed at the forcefield and no sign of an entrance.

"Pffft," Sonic threw his hands, "It's gonna take a lot more than that to keep _me_ back!" He stepped back and rolled into his infamous Sonic-Spin, shooting off like a bullet head on into the forcefield.

And got the shock of his life... literally.

The forcefield cushioned his attack with electricity and sent him rolling back into the ground. "...Then again, I could be wrong..."

Blaze took her turn, igniting a ball of fire in her palm and tossing it at the forcefield. However, it wasn't even affected as the fireball simply dissolved once it struck. Blaze groaned in frustration. "How are we going to get past this thing?"

"Frankly, Blaze," Sonic sighed, "I have no clue..."

* * *

In one of the castle's many dens, robots surrounded the room, standing guard while holding spikes and guns at the Acorn family, Queen Aleena, and Sir Charles.

A haughty chuckle filled the air as Dr. Robotnik strolled into the room. "Well well well!" he chimed, "I've hit the jackpot! I've not only the Queen of Mobodoon here, but the _entire_ Acorn family! Not to mention Sir Charles Hedgehog, the great Chaos Emerald scholar."

"What do you want from us, Robotnik?" King Max spatted.

"What I want, squirrel boy," responded the doctor, who was the least bit intimidated, "is your kingdom! As well as _her_ kingdom," he pointed to Aleena, "and all of South Island! In fact, I want the entire world!" He began to pace as he told the grand plan, "And for that to happen, I need all the emerald together."

"Well then you're wasting your time," sneered the king, "We don't have any of the Chaos Emeralds."

Robotnik gave a malicious grin. "Hahaha! I'm already aware of that!" he said as he turned and took a steel-cased box from one of his robot servants, "Because _I_ have all the Chaos Emeralds!" He opened the lid to reveal the seven, multi-colored gems, which pulsed brightly with every second.

"All we're missing is just one Sol Emerald..."

The hostages turned to the doorway to see what almost looked like an exact duplicate of Robotnik. Queen Alicia looked as if she went into shock. "No...!" she gasped, "_Two_ Robotniks??"

The double chuckled as he gave a respected bow to the royals. "Not quite," he said, "My name is Dr. Nega, from the alternate-Mobius. And it is my mission to gather all 7 Sol Emeralds for my personal well-being."

"Do your worst!" shouted Chuck, "Sonic's going to stop you both, regardless!"

"Hah!" Robotnik laughed, "_IF_ he can manage to get past my high-endurance electro-magnetic field! Not even fast feet can help him there." He turned to Nega, tossing him what looked like a retro-GameBoy. "Here, use this. If you hold down the start and select buttons at the same time, the polarities will switch from Chaos to Sol detectors. I'll stay and stand guard."

Nega nodded and left with a couple robots while fiddling with the device.

Chuck gave a helpless groan and hung his head. "Please hurry, Sonic..."

Sally glanced over at Chuck with pity. "It's no use, Charles," she said, "Sonic has failed. If he had only done what he was told..."

"Then he would be held captive like the rest of us," Chuck replied before she could finish.

Sally shook her head. "At the very least, he would have been able to most likely take out all the robots that invaded. But he chose to run away, like he always does... Especially when it comes to his responsibilities."

Aleena frowned at the princess. "Listen, Sally," she spoke, "Sonic may be a lot of things, but he is _not_ one to abandon his duties."

"Look Aleena," said Sally, "I know he's your son and all, but you have to face the facts! He's a childish, irresponsible mule who thinks everything is a game. He needs to start growing up and taking his role as prince seriously. If he continues to run away from his position, it will be his own downfall, and possibly everyone else's, and it's time he pulled his fat head out of the sand and realized this!"

The normally calm, passive queen had suddenly grown pissed, as she had enough. "Now SEE here, missy!" Aleena shouted, jumping from her seat and towering over Sally, "Sonic is NOTHING how you describe him! I am sick and tired of the way you talk down on the one man who's risked his life time after time in order to protect us all! Sonic is NOT running from his duties. He is running towards his _destiny."_ She finally calmed down a bit to take back her seat, "And if you would stop looking at things through your overly high-standard views, you would see this for yourself!"

Sally just sat there, stunned and speechless... Nobody, not even her own parents, had ever talked to her so strictly. She clasped her hands and knees together and wisely kept her mouth shut.

The tense moment was cut with the sound of a throat clearing. Everyone turned their attention to Robotnik, who had watched the argument rather awkwardly. "Um... Did you two want to be left alone?"

Aleena twitched her nose. "That _would_ be nice, Robotnik."

"Weeelll, I can't do that, that would be too darn silly of me," the overweight doctor retorted, "However, I'll gladly cover my ears while you talk." Aleena opened her mouth to argue back, but Robotnik had clapped his hands over his ears and began chanting. "La la la, I can't hear you!! La la laaaa!"

"What's all that noise?"

Everyone turned their attention to the doorway where Nega and his robots re-entered, a ruby-red Sol Emerald in one hand, and the emerald radar in the other. "I must say," he grinned, "That young fox-boy is quite a genius! Making an emerald radar out of an old Game Boy, and even creating a way to switch polarities. We found this emerald in less than five minutes!"

Robotnik narrowed his eyes. "Don't forget, Nega," he droned, "They're still our enemies."

One robot, holding the Chaos Emeralds, approached Nega as another brought over a second steel-cased box, opening it to reveal the other six Sol Emeralds. As Nega placed the last emerald with the rest, both sets began reacting wildly, glowing a near-blinding white light, and suddenly, a violent earthquake was unleashed. Alicia screamed as everyone else tried to grab something for support.

"Oh don't worry, this is normal," Robotnik casually explained as he simply held onto the wall as Nega grabbed the fireplace mantle. Robots tumbled left and right around them. "This is only a reaction of the emeralds bringing the two worlds together. It has no affect geologically."

But just as he said that, the entire castle capsized sideways.

* * *

Sonic and Blaze were tossed like rag dolls back and forth on the fierce rumbling ground. "Not now!!" Sonic cried, "What's going on up there?!"

Blaze glared up at the castle as the earthquake got worse. "The emeralds must all be together."

A large crackling thunder rang out as the earth below them began to split. The orbs holding the forcefield were knocked out of place, and some began to follow through the opening cracks.

"Sonic, look!" Blaze shouted, pointing upwards, "The forcefield's coming down!"

Sonic looked up and gasped, his eyes growing wide. "Yeah! But so's the whole castle!!"

* * *

"Robotnik, are you sure this is normal?!" Nega screamed through the noise of the rumbling earthquake, "This is the worst one yet!'

Before his double could answer, the ground shook even greater, and peices of the roof and walls began to crumble around them. "Normal or not, we're not sticking around here!" Robotnik cried, "Quick! Back to the Egg Carrier!!"

The two snatched their respective steel-cased containers which held each set of emeralds and raced out of the lounge, leaving behind their robots and their hostages.

* * *

"Nooo!" Sonic cried as the castle began to drop into the opening cracks of the earth. He tried to dash towards it, trying perhaps to race in, grab his mother, his friends, as many people as possible before the entire castle would collapse, but Blaze knew that was impossible as she grabbed his shoulders and kept him back. They could only watch helplessly as Castle Acorn dropped into the crevices...

...which was now engulfed with a bluish green energy. And FLOATING. It slowly began to raise back up above the ground.

Sonic and Blaze watched, astounded. "How... how's that happening??" Sonic scratched his head.

Blaze recognized this power. "Telekinesis..." She turned to see where the source was coming from, and her face brightened brightly. "Silver!!"

Off in the distance stood a silver-furred hedgehog, holding up his hands which also let out the same blue-green power that was holding up the castle. He struggled to keep the building afloat.

Blaze and Sonic raced over to where Silver stood. "I've never been so glad to see you!" Blaze chimed.

"Thanks, Blaze..." Silver struggled harder, "But... you think it can wait?! I've never had to hold up something this big and heavy before in my life!!"

Blaze scanned the area. "Set it there," she ordered, pointing to a clear area. Silver moved the castle ruins with his mind, directing it with his hands, and carefully setting it down. Sonic didn't waste a second to race over to help everyone inside.

Once it was set, Silver released the castle and fell to his knees in exhaustion. Blaze knelt to check on him as he tried to catch his breath.

"That will do, soldier," called a deep voice, "Good job."

Blaze turned to see a large lion-type Sol soldier marching towards them. "General Argyle!**†**" Blaze cried, standing back to her feet. She also spotted many other soldiers trailing behind, one of them a koala bear. "Gardon! You're all here!"

"Your highness!" Gardon jumped forward and took a hold of her hands, "We were so worried about you! Thank goodness you're all right. We sent out search parties as soon as you literally disappeared off the face of the planet!"

"A'hoy!" shouted the Australian accent of a young girl. Everyone turned to see a raccoon in a green top and pigtails standing on a rock as if she were King of the Mountain. "Don'cha ferget about _me_, mates! Th' digger that led these search and rescue missions!"

"Yeah, sure you did, kid," Silver muttered.

Blaze smiled in response. "Marine! Good to see you again."

Marine jumped off the rock and ran over to Blaze, wrapping her arms around her waist and burying her face into her chest. "Don't ever scare me like that again, shiela!" she wepted, "You 'ad me worryin' buckets, ya did!"

"No one told me there was a party goin' on here!" Sonic called as he joined back with the group, holding his mother's hand while leading her along. The entire Acorn family, as well as the inhabitants of the castle, were not far behind, after Sonic had helped them all out.

"Glad you're all okay," said Blaze, "Now we can focus on the real problem at hand." She blinked, confused as she noticed half of the people were gazing upwards, some in fright. "What is it?"

Elias gave a huge gulp. "You mean..." he pointed up, "THAT problem at hand??"

Blaze, as well as the other half of the group, looked up to what the prince of Mobotropolis was pointing at, and all eyes were wide with fright.

From the cracks of the earth, a large, dark, shadowy mist was rising up and slowly began climbing its way towards the Egg Carrier above in the sky.

"Well," said Sonic, "It is _now_..."

* * *

Robotnik and Nega had quickly called upon a tractor beam from the Egg Carrier to lift them up just before the castle could collapse into the crevices. Once inside the ship and in the cockpit, Nega quickly shoved all the emeralds in a containment safe as Robotnik fiddled with the controls. "Get us out of here, Ivo!" Nega shouted.

"With pleasure," Robotnik responded as he pulled down a lever. Just as the air craft was about to take off, the entire ship began to rumble. They had stopped moving, and suddenly all the lights, controls, the entire power of the Egg Carrier was suddenly shut off.

"Wh-what's going on??" Nega cried.

Robotnik cursed aloud, pressing buttons and hitting more levers, but getting no response. "All programs are unresponsive! The system's powered down!"

SHOOM!

Out of nowhere, the ship began rattling back and forth, left and right. Robotnik grabbed the wheel and tried to pull it upright, but things were only getting worse.

"What are you doing??" shouted Nega.

"It's not me, it's the ship!" Robotnik cried back, "It's like it has a mind of its own!"

A loud, evil laughter suddenly rang out, echoing across the cockpit. Chills ran down the Eggman's back. "You know..." he murmured, "That was only a figure of speech!"

The two doctors looked at each other with worried expressions before Nega suddenly screamed, "_Abandon ship!!"_ The two scrambled around, trying to find the rightway up to get to the emergency escape pods. But a sudden sharp thrust of the ship sent the two out of the ship much quicker, as they crashed through the windows and fell thousands of feet below to what seemed like their untimely death.

However, just mere feet before they hit the ground, the two were suddenly suspended in mid-air, surrounded by a glowing blue-green energy. The feeling only lasted a few seconds, as Silver's strength, already depleted from holding up Castle Acorn, gave out again and he fell to his knees... and the Eggmen flat on their faces. A painful landing, but at least they were alive. Blaze gave an approving nod at the hedgehog and patted his shoulder. "Thanks, Silver."

Robotnik sat up and rubbed his aching nose, unaware of the angry blue hedgehog marching up, until he was grabbed by the collar and pulled up right into Sonic's face. "Eggman...!" he growled, "What did you do??"

"It wasn't me!!" the round-dictator cried, waving his arms wildly in defense, "Something took control of the Egg Carrier!"

"What are you talking ab--?"

Another loud, menacing laughter rang out, this time echoing across the land, grabbing everyone's attention. Above them, the Egg Carrier, engulfed in a dark energy, shook wildly as began a sort of transformation. It uprighted itself, the wings spreading out to the side like arms, and the turbo boosters pointing downwards in the shape of feet. The Egg Carrier now took on a more humanistic form.

AND it could now speak.

"Finally..." a dark, deep voice droned from the ship, "After all these eons, I have found the emeralds! They may be in separate forms, but I now harness all its power! You're all fools to think that you could keep these worlds apart in order to hide them away!!" He let loose another round of maniacal laughter.

"Just who... or WHAT... is this thing??" said Sonic.

Blaze lowered her head, staring into the ground in deep thought. "The story..." she murmured, "It true!"

Sonic glanced over. "Story?"

"An old legend that was told to me as a child," Blaze responded, "An evil warlord wanted complete control over a nation, and therefore they were forced to split."

Sonic looked harder at Blaze. This definetely did sound familiar.

"There's even a prophesy that goes along with it, which makes sense now that I think about it." She closed her eyes, trying to remember it fully. "The powers split, north and south... two worlds..."

"Seperate lives," Sonic finished. Blaze glanced up at him, surprised as he continued. "In the greatest peril, the powers unite."

"And two become one," they both finished together.

"You know that story??" said Blaze, astounded.

"Heard it myself when I was a kid," said Sonic, smiling, "Looks like we're not all that different after all."

"Sonic, that prophesy... it's about us! Ours worlds, the emeralds, everything!"

Sonic glared up at the possessed Egg Carrier. "And that guy up there is the 'greatest peril'."

"The warlord's spirit..." Blaze murmured, then snapped her head back up and slammed her fist into her palm, "And we have to work together to defeat him!"

Sonic shrugged. "Yeah, but... _how?_"

"That's where we come in!"

* * *

**A/N:** There's a reason why this is called "Part 1" and the next "Part 2". This was originally all one huge chapter... and it looked funny compared to the 3-paged chapters before this one. :P

**† -** I know there's at least one of you keeping Wikipedia on the side to look up characters as they're introduced (**COUGH**_Kyle_**COUGH**) so this guy might throw you off. He's not exactly an OC, but he's not known to anyone, other than those who've watched "Sonic Underground". He doesn't even have a name. He's supposed to be the same man who in "Sonic Underground" took in baby Sonic and raised him until his home was attacked and Sonic was sent to live with his Uncle Chuck. It's suppose to be that same character, only I'm using him in a different role in this story. AND I personally named him. :P Go here for his picture: s159./albums/t156/ToniTheMink/P.jpg (put h t t p: / / in front of it)

So yea this is what took me so long to get the next part out. It was so freaking long XD And the whole week's worth of working didn't help either. ; But I finally fished it out in at a healthy rate :)

* * *


	11. The Greatest Peril, part 2

Everyone turned to see a red echidna soaring from the air and dropping to the ground, landing by Sonic, while not far off, a blue bi-plane was touching ground and slowing to a stop near everyone. A two-tailed fox was seen in the pilot's cockpit, with a bunny girl sitting behind him.

"Tails! Knuckles!" Sonic called.

"Blaze!!" Cream cheered as she and Cheese jumped out of the Tornado, racing to the cat and glomping her. "I thought I'd never see you again!!"

"Cream?" Blaze blinked, but began to smile, "You've gotten bigger since I last saw you."

"How'd you all know to come here?" asked Sonic.

Knuckles grinned. "Tails gave me a buzz," he responded, "I told you that if you needed help, I'll be here." He looked up at the possessed ship, taking off, most likely in search of mayhem. "And by the looks of it, you definetely need it."

"Sonic, what happened to the emeralds?" asked Tails, to which Sonic pointed up at the Egg Carrier. Tails slumped to the side, resting his head in his hand. "Figures..."

Sally turned to where Eggman was sitting. "Robotnik, tell us how to gain control of the Egg Carrier. Do you have some sort of..." She trailed off as she noticed neither Robotnik nor Nega were nowhere to be found. "Where did they go??"

Knuckles crossed his arms and frowned. "Looks like they turned tail and ran off. Should've known..."

"It looks like we're on our own," Tails explained. "Apparently, the warlord's spirit is using the Chaos and Sol Emeralds as the source of his power. As long as they're in the Egg Carrier, he's using it as his vessel. We need to get in there and take the emeralds _away_ from him, in order to stop him!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we kinda figured that," he moaned, picking at his ear, "But the key question here is _how??_"

"We'll just have to figure it out as we go along," ordered Knuckles, pounding his fists together, "Right now, it's _crunch time!!"_

Tails started the Tornado back up. Cream and Cheese raced back and hopped into the passenger cockpit, and Knuckles jumped on the top wings of the bi-plane. As the plane drove on and gained altitude, Sonic took a sudden hold of Blaze's wrist and raced under. Before the Tornado took off, Sonic leapt up and grabbed the bottom wheels, hoisting Blaze up so she could grab on as well, but instead she opted to cling to Sonic's arm, her eyes squeezed shut in fright.

"Sonic, are you crazy?!" she screamed.

"Well, yeah!" he called back, "I thought you knew that by now."

"Of course! But I think now is the time I let you know that _I can't stand heights!!_"

Sonic groaned. "Great. Wait until we're 10,000 feet above the ground before you tell me."

Once hearing how high they were, Blaze yelped and grabbed Sonic around the neck, holding him tight. Sonic sighed... but he didn't complain either.

It didn't take long before they had caught up with the possessed Egg-Carrier. Once they were close enough, Knuckles flew off the top and glided around the Warlord to grab his attention. He flew around in a figure eight as the warlord tried to swipe at him to get him away. Suddenly, shots rang out as from behind, Tails shot bullets at the Warlord. Since the Egg Carrier was designed to take such minimal damage from even the deadliest attacks, the bullets did no harm other than irk the Warlord, who swung around and attempted to slam his fist into the plane, but Tails managed to veer away sharply in time. Blaze screeched and clung tighter on Sonic. He didn't mind her holding onto him... but he could definetely go without the screams.

Their attempt at infiltration wasn't going too well. For a long while, they attacked, dodged, came close only to back away, but in the end the Warlord was too strong for them. Sonic and Blaze were growing tired of just hanging around on the bottom. "Sonic, how much longer must we hold on like this??" Blaze cried, "I think I'm going to lose my lunch!!"

"As soon as these guys create an opening for us on the carrier!" Sonic called back, then raised his voice louder, "Tails!! What's the damn hold up??"

"Hey, I'm working the best I can here!" Tails shouted back, "Considering I've STILL got a headache from that earlier attack!"

Knuckles knitted his eyebrows as he glided in and out of the warlord's path of attacks. 'We'll never stop this guy at this rate,' he thought, 'We need to think up a strategy... and quick!'

As he glided to the side to avoid a punch, Tails flew the plane behind and shot a round of lasers at the Warlord's head. The Warlord fell forward a bit, but stood back up and turned to swipe at the Tornado. With his back turned, Knuckles found a wide opening and slammed his fist in the back of his head. The Warlord turned back and tried to grab the echidna, who barely managed to evade.

"You pests are really testing my patience!" the Warlord's voice rang out, "Pray that I don't gather enough power from the emeralds to unleash my true strength!" He kept his attention on Knuckles, until the sound of a plane engine drew him back to Tails and Cream. Knuckles finally noticed a pattern. The Warlord was having trouble keeping up with both him and the Tornado. He was too distracted to keep his attention on both enemies.

"That's it!" he grinned and made his way towards the Tornado. "Tails!! Listen up! I've got a plan!"

The Warlord turned to see both the red echidna and the blue bi-plane close together and saw his opportunity. He charged forward, extending his arm, ready for a hard blow, but the two quickly parted ways before any hit was made. He focused on Knuckles, who looked about ready to sock him in the face and managed to back away. However, knowing that if he tried to attack one, the other comes up from behind. He turned to look for the Tornado, but got slammed with a hard fist in the back of his head.

"Grr... DAMN YOU!" he screamed as he attempted again to attack Knuckles, who nimbly evaded. Before he could attempt another strike on the echidna, he heard the sound of a plane engine coming close, and turned in time to see the Tornado coming straight at him. On instinct, he raised his arm once more and slammed it towards the plane, which did a quick barrel-roll to the side.

Blaze held onto Sonic for dear life as the plane rolled over and over. Just what was happening anyway?? She chanced to open one eye for a look, and noticed her rabbit friend flapping her ears, floating in air off in the distance. "Cream!!"

The Warlord turned once again. Finally, the echidna and the airplane were close enough together, he wouldn't have to worry about any sneak attacks...

He didn't know about the little girl right behind him with her adorible but lethal pet chao.

"Ready Cheese?" said Cream as she held up her little blue friend.

"_Bada-badup-ba-dum!!"_ Cheese babbled in chao talk as he raised his arms up like a super hero. With the Warlord's back turned, Cream wound her arm in fast circles and launched Cheese full force at the Egg Carrier hide. The tiny chao did major damage, breaking through a wall where Knuckles had struck plenty of times earlier, and knocking the Warlord forward, screaming in pain.

Tails flew the Tornado around to the backside, picking up Cream and coming closer, ducking as the Warlord turned around fiercely and came eye-to-eye with Cheese. "Injured by this little gnat??" he roared, raising his fist once more, "I'll crush you all!! Starting with you!!"

Cheese screamed in fright and covered his little head. Just before any hit could be made, a red streak zoomed in and scooped up the little chao in his hands. "Gotcha, lil' guy!" smiled Knuckles.

"Sonic! Blaze! Get ready!" Tails yelled down, "There's your opening, right down there!" He swung down, getting as close to the Warlord as possible. Once they were close enough to the hole Cheese made, Sonic let go of the wheels and dropped into the entrance, Blaze in hand. They managed to land safely inside, but were then thrown harshly into the wall when the Warlord turned around fiercely.

Sonic groaned. "This might be a tad harder than I thought..."

* * *

While this fiasco was going on, down on the ground, everyone was watching the battle play out, ignoring the vibrations of the fight and the debris that would rain down around them.

"Oy!!" Marine jumped up on another huge rock, waving her arms to try and grab everyone's attention. "Get outta th' way! You'll be crushed like roadkill if ya don't!"

Her warnings fell on deaf ears as the group continue to watch. Marine grew furious. "Hey!!" she shouted, "Did'ja drongos hear me?? I said MOVE IT!!"

Just then, from above, a missile shot out from the Tornado, striking the Egg-Carrier, and a large chunk of it was broken off, falling straight for the crowd below. Before "roadkill" could happen, a green energy formed around the now-panicked watchers and were all suddenly pulled away just before the Egg Carrier piece could hit them.

Marine glared over at the silver-furred hedgehog. "Ya show pony!" she scolded, "I 'ad that covered, ya know!"

Silver smirked. "Well... Aren't _you_ a 'tall poppy'?"

* * *

Meanwhile, up above, the fight still ensued. Knuckles and Tails did all they could to keep the Warlord at bay, while inside, Sonic and Blaze were tossed back and forth at the Warlord's every movement. Sonic was able to bounce off the walls and land on his feet whenever he was tossed. Blaze, however, kept falling over and wasn't as quick to land upright like Sonic was.

Noticing that she was falling behind, Sonic stopped, raced back, and swept the cat into his arms, much to her dismay. "What are you doing??" she cried, "I can walk!!"

"Not with the way you keep falling all over the place," Sonic retorted as he trudged along the funhouse-esque interior, "This is just easier." He then raised an eyebrow towards her. "Aren't cats supposed to be naturally balanced?"

Blaze crossed her arms and turned away in a huff. She didn't want to admit it... but she was beginning to enjoy the ride in his arms.

Shortly thereafter, another hard thrust nearly forced Sonic to the floor, but he managed to skid along down the hall for a ride, and screeched to a halt just in front of a room with stairs that led up. "There it is!" he called, "That's the entrance to the main control central! Hang on tight!" Blaze tightened her grip around the hedgehog's shoulders as he raced at top speed up the stairs into the control room... only to fall back downwards when the Warlord leaned back. The two went tumbling down the steps and slammed against the wall on the bottom.

"Naturally balanced, huh?" Blaze sneered.

Sonic sneered back. "Shut up."

The two pushed themselves back on their feet, just as the Warlord did another quick movement, probably to avoid an attack or send one himself, but it nearly threw both down the corridors once again. Sonic managed to grab part of the wall and Blaze with his other hand, pulled her up, and quickly tossed her up the stairs, where she hung onto the railings as the Warlord continued to angled left and right constantly.

Sonic positioned himself against the wall and did a mighty leap up the stairs, having Blaze catch his wrist and hauling him up into the room. As they finally managed to get in, the Warlord rightened himself up, and Sonic and Blaze found themselves standing correctly in the control room. Sonic groaned and rubbed his head. "All that work, _and_ bland paragraph-long descriptions for nothing..."

"Sonic look!" Blaze pointed across the room, where a containment safe was mounted into the wall.

Sonic grinned and shrugged. "Where else would Eggman stick the emeralds?" he joked, "His sock drawer?"

They made their way across the room, trying to maintain balance as the Warlord continued to move around constantly, until they reached the safe. Sonic motioned Blaze to stand back as he dove into his famous Sonic-Spin, and launched himself at the safe. He managed to nick it, but it was still sealed tightly. "Eggman must've really outdone himself, just to keep me back," he wondered, "It's almost flattering, really."

"Let me try," Blaze ignited a ball of fire in her palms and chucked it straight at the safe, only to bounce back and nearly singe the top of Sonic's head. The cat groaned in frustration. "Only a burn mark... How do we break this thing open?"

Sonic rubbed his chin as he thought hard. "Hm..." he then snapped his fingers, "Hey, how'd that prophesy go again? In the greatest peril, the powers unite..." he winked at Blaze, as she nodded, understanding. He started into another spin as Blaze created a ring of fire in her hands. As Sonic shot off, Blaze surrounded the fire around the blue blur, turning him into a firey cannon ball that blasted into the containment safe, breaking it open, blowing Sonic back, and the emeralds all spilled out onto the floor.

The Warlord cried out in agony, feeling his source of power disconnected, and grabbed his head, trying to gain control. He swiveled back and forth to maintain balance, which caused Sonic, Blaze, and the emeralds to fall from one side of the room to the other. "Blaze, grab the emeralds!!" Sonic shouted as he got to his feet and ran around the room, gathering as many Chaos or Sol Emeralds he could find. Blaze did the same thing, but like earlier, had trouble staying on her feet.

Meanwhile, Tails, Knuckles, Cream, and Cheese watched as the possessed Egg Carrier seemed to be losing control. "They must have finally found the emeralds," said Tails.

Knuckles, who looked very much battle weary, rubbed his aching arm. "About damn time..."

The black mist that covered the Egg Carrier finally disipatted, leaving the craft to soar downwards towards the forest. "Mr. Sonic!! Blaze!!" Cream cried.

As if responding to their names, two figures suddenly shot out of the airship through a broken window, their arms filled with color-coded emeralds. Tails wasted no time going full-speed and diving the plane towards the falling figures, catching them on the top wing. Sonic gave a weak thumbs-up to the fox pilot while struggling to merely hold the emeralds close to them.

"Such... power!" Blaze cried, "It's nearly difficult to just hold onto them! What could be causing them to react this way??"

As the plane touched down for a landing, an explosion rang out from the forest as the Egg Carrier exploded on a firey impact off in the distance. Everyone watched in amazement and curiousness. Nobody could survive that kind of crash landing... but what about the Warlord's spirit? Was it gone?

Sonic and Blaze lept off the Tornado, only too eager to throw the overwhelming power of the emeralds to the ground, as everyone gathered around them. "We've won..." murmured General Argyle.

There wasn't even a second to celebrate as a familiar laughter rang out across the sky. Everyone's head snapped up to see the same shadowy mist hovering in the air, expanding in size, and taking yet another form of a human. The form then grew flesh-like, and finally, the figure looked almost God-like as the features became realistic, like a floating human being... that was over 1,000 feet tall.

"Fools!" the same voice bellowed out, only it was its real voice and not coming from any mechanic vessel, "I don't need any hunk of junk to keep me alive! I already _have_ the power of the Chaos Sols! Even as seperated sets, I was still able to absorb their energy! At long last, my reign over existance can begin!! Hahahahahaaa!!" The Warlord celebrated by attacking the group of onlookers below him, swaying his arm to the side to summon a massive wind to blow everyone into the air and hurling full-force towards the ground. Silver acted quick to grab everyone with his telekinesis and slow all their falls down. But that wasn't enough as the Warlord then summoned a cloud of fire above their heads and made it rain firebolts towards the ground. Blaze raised her arms up and diverted the firebolts away as best as possible, even though some managed to break through and strike the ground, luckily missing any innocent bystanders. Sonic ran in circles quickly to snuff out the flames while Marine helped out by shooting water out of her water pistol.

Just then, at the worst possible second, another earthquake was unleashed. Everybody fell to the ground, helpless. "Oh just great!!" Knuckles shouted, "What now?!"

Tails' eyes went wide. "Look!" he cried and pointed, "The emeralds!! They're glowing even brighter!!"

Everyone turned their attention to the seven Chaos Emeralds and seven Sol Emeralds as they hovered a few feet into the air, circling one another. Each emerald found its color-coded partner, and spun around rapidly as the emeralds continued in a circle, faster, and faster...

_**SCHOOOOOM!**_

A blinding explosion of light caused everyone to shield their eyes. Slowly the bright light began to dim, and Blaze chanced to take a peak at what happened, and gasped at the sight. "The emeralds...!"

Everyone else uncovered their eyes, shocked at the sight before them. Instead of fourteen emeralds, there were now only seven. The same colors, only brighter. They were neither Chaos Emeralds nor Sol Emeralds. They had grown in size, double of what a Chaos Emerald normally was. Other than that, they had the same shape as Chaos Emeralds, only the top looked more like a Sol one.

"The emeralds..." Sonic murmured, "They... they became _one_!"

Everyone was in silence at the amazing sight before them.

"HAAAAHAhahahahaha!"

Unfortunetly the moment was ruined by the obnoxious laughter of the obnoxious Warlord. "So you've decided to put the Chaos Sols back together, have you?" he sneered, "It won't do you any good! I STILL have the power to defeat you all!"

Chaos Sols?

Back together?

Seperated?

These questions ran through everyone's mind. Blaze and Sonic looked to each other curiously. And as emerald green eyes and golden yellow eyes met, things suddenly clicked; two worlds, two emeralds, the Warlord, the prophesy, the whole story... Everything had became crystal clear for them.

_Many many centuries ago, there stood a powerful kingdom. This kingdom held the highest power, and was the mightiest on the planet, perhaps even in the entire universe. An evil warlord wanted to use this power to his own selfish advantages, and struck a civil war in the kingdom. Before it could collapse under his rule, the great power of the kingdom divided itself into two. Instead of being divided from one, two were united to defeat the warlord. In order to preserve the power, the kingdoms remained separated to protect themselves from any of threats, including the warlord's spirit. Until then, the universe waits until these two worlds were called upon to unite into one once again._

"The powerful kingdom..." Blaze murmured, "... was our worlds. As _one_!"

"And the people seperated the emeralds... the 'Chaos Sols'... in order to create two dimensions," Sonic added on, "to drive away the warlord and protect their power!"

"Our crossing into each others worlds must have linked the emeralds back together, which caused our worlds to merge into each other."

"And made finding it AND the emeralds all too easy for the Warlord, even AFTER all these years!"

More laughter rang out. "Finally caught on, have you?" sneered the Warlord high above, "Such a shame that I have to annihilate such bright children. Unless of course you give me the Chaos Sols. You have no chance at defeating me otherwise." He gave another menacing chuckle and held out his palm in an intimidating matter. The majority of citizens screamed out in terror, racing away, much to the delight of the Warlord, but the "Freedom Fighters" remained in place, Sonic and Blaze up front, the emeralds gathered around them.

"No," spoke Sonic in a serious tone.

"Not happenin', buddy!" Blaze sassed in a slang-like voice. It was as if their personalities had switched momentarily.

Sonic held his hands over the Chaos Sols that orbited around them, "We are the guardians of the emeralds..."

Blaze placed her hand over his, "And we're not about to let you mess 'em up!"

The Warlord stepped back, fury clearly building up around him as he snarled, ready to attack them. Sonic and Blaze were the least bit worried, as they looked to each other, smirked, and nodded. They pulled their hands back, balling them into fists as they began to absorb the power of the Chaos Sols. The emeralds reacted by glowing even brighter, spinning around the duo faster and faster. Their power were even slowly lifting the two off the ground as the power entered them. Suddenly, everything froze as another explosion of light burst out.

Where there once was a blue hedgehog and purple cat now stood a sparkling white hedgehog, his quills sticking up and longer than usual, his eyes a brighter shade of green, and his whole body covered with a sky-blue aura; and a whitish-golden cat, her highlights on her hair and tail completely gone, her eyes now a crimson red, her jacket pure white with golden trims, and blue and orange flames engulfing her body.

They had become a level beyond Super Sonic and Burning Blaze... they were now Hyper Sonic and Solar Blaze.

They looked to each other, gave an assuring smile, and took each other's hand as they blasted into the sky, ready for battle.


	12. The Final Boss, and Epilogue

"You think you have the power to defeat me?" the Warlord sneered as the two figures flew into the sky to meet him.

Hyper Sonic and Solar Blaze only smirked in response as they shot towards the now-flesh spirit. The Warlord snarled and tried to keep them back, shooting energy beams at the two, but for small targets, they were easily able to avoid each blast. Annoyed, the Warlord gathered his power and instead concentrated it into a massive energy ball and hurled it at them. Hyper Sonic jumped ahead and easily swapped the ball away, sending it back to the Warlord and striking him head on. As he staggered back from the hit, he was suddenly knocked forward from a strong kick in the head by Solar Blaze.

"How can you possibly manage to land your hits?" the Warlord growled as he raised himself back up, "I've become the most powerful being in all existence!"

"Not quite, pal," Hyper Sonic wagged his finger, "You overlooked one crucial part of the story."

Solar Blaze crossed her arms, "You absorbed the emeralds when they were still separated. Whereas _we_ absorbed them when they were put back together."

Hyper Sonic grinned, "So we've got a slight edge over you."

"_Raaaiiiigh!!"_ In anger, the Warlord raised his arms up, calling upon pieces of the battered earth and castle ruins and sent them full force at the heroes. The two threw punches and kicks at every piece that was thrown at them, shattering them and keeping from getting crushed, and accidentally causing the broken parts to fall below at the innocent bystanders. Luckily, Silver was there to catch the pieces and send them off while Knuckles jumped up and smashed the debris into even smaller pebbles to harmlessly fall around everyone.

While Sonic and Blaze were distracted keeping back the boulders and castle parts, out of nowhere, they were rammed head on by the Warlord as he head-butted into the two. He laughed approvingly as they were sent flying across the horizon... but stopped abruptly as the two glowing specks were seen coming closer at top speed. Blaze was holding onto Sonic's hand and once they were close enough, she began to spin him in a rapid circle, until they became a whirlwind of white and golden colors. She then let go of Sonic, and the hyper-powered hedgehog plummeted into the Warlord, knocking him back a good several hundred feet. He pulled back as the Warlord struggled to right himself back up, and in blind fury, swiped his fists at Sonic sloppily, allowing the hedgehog to dodge each hit and land a powerful uppercut into the Warlord's chin once he was wide open. The spirit fell back once more, grabbing his face as he tried to keep himself upright.

"Now, Blaze!!" Sonic shouted as he quickly jumped to the side. The Warlord looked up just in time to see a massive star-like fireball coming straight at him and didn't have a moment to defend himself at it struck him head on, igniting his whole body on fire. He screamed in agony as he quickly tried to pat out the flames on him, and turned his furious attention to the floating heroes, who had just joined back together and faced him.

The Warlord was beaten badly, exhausted, and even angrier than before. "All these centuries, finding these emeralds..." he seethed as he breathed hard, "I will not fail! I will have control of every living thing in existence... Even if I have to exterminate this _one world!!__" _He let loose a scream as he called upon his entire power to come forth. A dark energy began to form around him, and continued to build as the entire world began to shake.

"What's going on??" cried Sally as she and everyone else fell over from the shaking ground.

Being around the Master Emerald all his life, Knuckles could feel what was happening, and knew exactly what was going on. "He's going to use the energy he took from the emeralds to blow the entire planet up!!"

That was more than enough to cause a mass panic among everyone on the ground.

"Sonic, this is it!" Blaze cried, "There's no way we can stop this!"

"Yes we can..." Sonic responded, staring hard as they watched the Warlord increase his energy for the attack, "If he can do that, _we_ can do it too." He looked over to the cat, "Remember the prophesy... 'In the greatest peril, the powers unite'..." he held out his hand, "...'And two become one'."

The two stared into each other, as if it was the last time they'd ever get to see each other again... it probably was. But Blaze nodded, and took a hold of Sonic's hand. Together, they concentrated their energy, powering up to the max themselves. A blue aura blazed around them, which was also engulfed with red flames, and they were off, like a rocket, shooting at hyper speed towards the Warlord, leaving behind a trail of fire. They looked like a comet, brightly blasting through the dark sky.

The Warlord saw them coming, however, and pushed his arms forward, shooting his devastating attack at the two. The dark aura hit them straight on... but at the full speed they were going, their own aura was able to bounce the attack right back at the Warlord, who didn't even see it coming. He was struck by his own attack, his defense wide open, and he staggered backwards in pain. The lethal power that was meant to take out the entire world was now taking him out... but that wasn't enough for the heroes as they plowed right into his chest.

The spirit froze... the power was too much, and it was all against him. Bright energy beams began to shoot out of him from every part of his body. Then, he let out one last agonizing scream as the chaos energy exploded inside of him like a super nova, bright enough to light the entire scene as if it were daytime. Everyone had to shield their eyes. The explosion sent the 7 Chaos Sols scattering across the horizon, as well as rocketed Sonic and Blaze into two different directions.

"Sonic!!" cried Sally.

"Blaze!!" shouted Silver.

Finally, the light from the explosion dimmed down. The world stopped shaking, and everything had calmed down...

The Warlord was defeated...

The world was together...

The prophesy had been fulfilled...

...

But the heroes were gone...

* * *

...

...

...

* * *

The room slowly came into focus as Blaze's eyes fluttered open. She glanced around; she was back in her bedroom, back in Castle Sol! How did she get here, she wondered? What happened...?

She sat up in her bed, trying to think back. Her memory was all a blur, and she felt drained and exhausted, as if she was sleeping for eternity. She could barely remember what could have caused all this. She remembered there was fighting... and the Sol Emeralds... and Sonic...

... Did she really see him again? Was it all just a strange dream?

Figuring she wasn't going to get any answers by laying in bed all day, she decided to get up and exit her room.

Down the hallway, she looked up at the walls, of all the hanging pictures of those whom she had descended from, of her own parents, and some of herself, younger, and all alone.

"Everything looks the same," she murmured to herself, "It's like I never left..."

She then came across a plaque. _The powers split, north and south. Two worlds, separate lives. In the greatest peril, the powers unite, and two become one._ She was brought back to those vague memories of Sonic, and his friends, and _her_ friends, all together to battle against this evil spirit...

It couldn't have been a dream... could it?

"Miss Blaze!"

The cat was snapped back to reality when she heard the voice of pit-bill nurse approaching her. "Are you all right?" the nurse asked, concerned, "Should you be out of bed like this?"

"I... I'm okay," Blaze responded, rubbing her head, "I think so, at least."

The nurse then gave a smile. "Come then," she said, taking the princess by the arm and leading her down the hallway, "Everyone is waiting for you."

"Waiting...?"

The nurse took her further down the hall and to a stairway, leading downstairs. As they descended, they were approaching the main hall. Blaze was surprised to see so many people were gathered downstairs, and as soon as she was spotted, the entire room erupted with applause at her entrance. Blaze blinked, not understanding the situation.

Once she was at the bottom, she was immediately surrounded by well-wishers, and receiving affectionate bows and handshakes by Gardon and General Argyle. "Just... what's going on?" Blaze asked.

"It's kind of a long story, Blaze," Silver responded as he approached her and gave her a deep hug. "We're just glad you're okay."

"Too right!" Marine piped, jumping in and grabbing a piece of Blaze to hug herself.

Blaze returned the hugs and she looked around the room. She felt flattered, and happy, to see so many of her people were here just to see her... but a few of them she could have sworn she saw somewhere else before. "Who... who are most of these people?"

"Some of them originally came from our world, dear."

That voice! Blaze whipped around to see if it was who she thought it was. And it was.

"Queen Aleena??" the cat gasped as the hedgehog queen stood in front of her, "But how...?"

Aleena smiled. "Don't you remember?" she said, "Our worlds were merging together. It was an international crisis. But now that the Chaos and Sol Emeralds have joined together again after so many centuries, our worlds have become whole."

"You mean...?" Blaze looked around the room some more. There were more and more faces that she was beginning to recognize. There was the entire Acorn family, Cream and her mother who only looked too thrilled to see her again, Tails who waved wildly at her, Knuckles who only smiled and nodded, and even Aleena's two other children, Manic and Sonia. "They're all here...!" Blaze breathed, "But then... where's--?"

"Hey, about time you woke up, sleepy head!"

Blaze's eyes widened at the voice. That all-too familiar, wonderful voice. She turned slowly... there he was. Standing right next to her, a smile curved at the side of his mouth. "Sonic...!"

The hedgehog grinned. "You were expecting maybe Mario?"

Without wasting a second, Blaze was on top of him, wrapping her arms around his neck, holding him tightly against her. Tears streamed down her cheek, the first time in ten years she showed emotion in front of her kingdom. But she didn't care at the moment. All that mattered was that she was with him. "I thought I'd never see you again..." she choked.

Sonic returned the hug and smirked. "Can't get rid of me that easily."

The room around them was in a low silence. The two opened their eyes and glanced awkwardly around them, noticing people were staring at them, and half of everyone was glancing back to the princess of Mobotropolis. The two reluctantly released their hold on each other and looked over to Sally, who in response only shrugged and waved her palm.

"Well, don't stop on account of me," she said, "It's obvious you guys were meant for each other. After all..." she gave a tight smile, "That whole prophesy was talking about you all along anyway."

Some people looked disappointed in the answer. Others looked thrilled. The rest were just too indecisive. Sonic, however, only looked to Blaze... and began laughing at the whole situation. Blaze couldn't figure out what was so funny, but she didn't care. She just wanted him. So she jumped onto Sonic, wrapped her arms around him again, and pressed her lips against his.

Sonic was taken back at the sudden kiss, but eventually became lost in it and gladly returned it, as once again, the entire room erupted into applause.

Once upon a time, the world was in peace, until an evil Warlord tried to steal the power of the Chaos Sols to take control of everything that lived. In order to save everyone and everything, the emeralds were split into two sets in order to create two different worlds to throw off the Warlord, and they worked together to banish him. To protect the emeralds, the worlds remained separated, until centuries later, they crossed into each other and the emeralds reacted by bringing the world back together. The Warlord, now a spirit, was able to find the emeralds once again because of this, and used the power to threaten the universe. The emeralds united once again, and the Warlord was defeated once and for all. The two worlds had become one...

And now, so have Sonic and Blaze.

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N:** All done! :D But I'm not done writing the fanfics. I've got two others that I'm half-way into the outline with The next one is somewhat of a sequel of this fic, but it stars Silver.

I know the final battle seemed a tad short. I hope I didn't disappoint... but I really do suck at battle scenes. :Oo:

Thanks for sticking with me throughout the fic. :D I hope you had fun reading it as much as I had fun writing. ;)


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